A former pastor in western Riverside County was extradited to California this week on charges related to the sexual assault of a child nearly 30 years ago, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Laverne Paul Fox, 60, was arrested in Erie, Pennsylvania, and extradited on Monday. He faces three felony charges over alleged abuse that occurred in 1991 and 1992 while he was an assistant pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Wildomar, according to authorities and court records.

Fox was released Tuesday on $120,000 bail, court records show. It was unclear whether he would return to Pennsylvania or remain in California until his new arraignment date of Oct. 2 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

The alleged abuse began in the early 1990s when the victim was 15 years old and a student at Faith Baptist Church, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant. At the time, Fox was 15 years older than the victim and served as the bus director and principal at the affiliated school.

The victim, whom The Desert Sun is not identifying due to the nature of the case, said the relationship was discovered in 1992 by Pastor Bruce Goddard, the declaration said.

Attempts to reach the pastor by phone and email Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Fox was ultimately transferred to an affiliate church in Indiana and the incident was never reported to law enforcement, according to the declaration.

The declaration also includes references to a telephone call recording between the victim and Fox in which he allegedly did not deny the relationship when questioned.

Investigators also described a conversation with Lorraine Fox, who married Laverne Fox in 1981.

She told police that Goddard came by their home in 1992 to talk her husband, the declaration stated. Afterwards, the pastor told his wife he had an affair with the victim and that they needed to move. She said Goddard told them that if they left within three days no charges would be pressed against her husband.

According to Sgt. Glenn Warrington, detectives became aware of Fox's alleged offenses while conducting a separate investigation into the sexual abuse of three teenage girls by another youth pastor, 46-year-old Malo Victor Monteiro of Colton.

Monteiro, who committed the crimes while employed by the First Baptist Church in Wildomar, pleaded guilty last November to seven sex-related felonies and was sentenced to five years and four months in state prison under a plea agreement authorized by Superior Court Judge Kelly Hansen, without input from the District Attorney's Office.

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City News Service contributed to this report.

Shane Newell covers breaking news and the western Coachella Valley cities of Palm Springs, Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs. He can be reached at Shane.Newell@DesertSun.com, (760) 778-4649 or on Twitter at @journoshane.