CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 75-year-old Ukrainian-born pastor faces life in prison after a jury on Thursday found him guilty of groping a 10-year-old girl at a Middleburg Heights Recreation Center pool this March.

Nikolay Kalka, who speaks little English and wore an oxygen tube throughout his trial, was led out of courtroom in handcuffs after a jury returned guilty verdicts on gross sexual imposition and kidnapping charges in the March 11 incident.

Because the girl was 10 years old and the jury found he kidnapped her to commit a sexual offense, Kalka now faces a potential mandatory sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 10 years.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Kathleen Ann Sutula will sentence Kalka Sept. 7.

Two girls, who have since turned 11, testified that Kalka grabbed one of the girls and rubbed her vagina and her breast while he held her for more than a minute under a water fountain in the kiddie pool.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Jen Driscoll praised the girls' bravery to come forward.

"These are innocent kids," Driscoll said. "We teach our kids to tell, and they absolutely did the right thing and the jury in turn followed the law and did the right thing as well."

The mother of the victim's friend said after the verdict that she didn't think it was fair Kalka may spend life in prison.

"I feel bad for everyone involved," she said, wiping tears from eyes that were red from crying. "This is a very sad situation."

Kalka, who came to the U.S. to flee religious persecution under the former Soviet Union in 1990, took the stand at the end of the day Tuesday and, through a Russian-Ukrainian translator, denied touching the girl's breast or vagina.

He said he grew tired of the girls splashing him and wanted to put her head under the water fountain to show her what it was like to be splashed.

"Seventy years and I've never had any accusation like this against me," Kalka said. "It couldn't have even come to my mind to do such a thing. I live my life a certain way. I've been a pastor."

Members of his family, who attended the entire trial, sobbed outside the courtroom after the verdict was read.

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