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	Ex-Minister Sentenced to Probation By Marlene DiGiacomo Delco Times July 29, 2008 http://www.delcotimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19877541&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18171&rfi=6 MEDIA COURTHOUSE - Christine Kuhn was 13 years old when she sought solace in the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield and Gerald Klever, who was then a minister, befriended her. But instead of finding the "father figure" she so desired in Klever, he preyed upon her and manipulated her by sexually abusing her for years. And he once told her that someday, "you'll look back on all of this and laugh." Kuhn, now 46, endured years of pain trying to convince others in the church to believe what Klever had done to her. And she went through a period of alcoholism. But her faith and strength in God saw her through. "I didn't give up. I wouldn't give up," she said as her blue eyes flashed with determination. She was in court Tuesday as the 76-year-old Klever, now a defrocked Presbyterian minister, was formally sentenced to 10 years probation as part of a plea agreement arising from his sexual abuse of Kuhn and another woman. Before it was over, others also came forward with stories of abuse at his hands, but the statute of limitations had run out. "It was a loophole in the law," said Kuhn, which Deputy District Attorney Sheldon Kovach detailed to the victims. That quirk in the law allowed for the arrest and prosecution of Klever in the two cases, because in 1983 he moved to Arizona, which stayed the statute on those matters. As part of his sentence, Klever was also required to pay Kuhn more than $24,818 for past and future therapy. She received the check Tuesday. Common Pleas Court Judge James Nilon, who formally imposed the sentence, also ordered Klever to volunteer 1,000 hours of community service. The judge also ordered Klever to undergo periodic polygraph tests as to his health, which defense attorney Theodore Simon said involves myriad problems, including a serious heart condition. Simon said Klever was in Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia just last week for emergency care involving his heart condition. His medical problems were called into question by Patricia Circolo, 55. She said she happened to see Klever last Sunday and tried to catch up with him, but couldn't because of the quick pace he was going to attend church in Philadelphia. She said she followed him to make certain it was Klever and was sure it was him. She said she saw him come back from receiving communion. "I do a lot of walking and I was out of breath trying to keep up with him," said Circolo. She also accused Klever of "inappropriate conduct" with her when she was 17 and worked as a baby sitter for Klever and his wife, Anita. Circolo said one night, Klever returned early from an outing and called her upstairs. He appeared naked in front of her. She said she was "very confused," but was ready to go to college and tried to put it out of her mind, until recently when she read accounts he had been arrested. She said she likewise went to police with her account. Kuhn, now married and the mother of two, said Klever's advances began innocently enough when she was 13. She said he suggested they go to lunch. She said she met him at his church office and they then went to a fast-food restaurant. "I was 13. I had been raised Catholic and I only knew priests from the confessional. So here was a minister who was being human. We went back to his office. He put the food on the floor and took his shoes off and sat down Indian style. I thought, 'This is really cool.'" She said it was then that her nightmare began. He started a conversation about "problems in her family" that she hadn't shared with anybody. "This man knew. It was a hard enough childhood as it was. I began crying and he began rubbing my back. He stood up to get a box of tissues and when he turned around, he had unzipped his pants." Kuhn said Klever used what he knew about her family to force her to comply with his sexual desires - first oral sex and later intercourse. "That was his threat. He also threatened to tell my mother that I was involved in drugs and alcohol, which at the time was not true," she said. Last May while in court, she told Klever, when he entered pleas to charges of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, that he knew exactly how to prey on his victims when he "should have been praying for your victims." Kuhn said she kept a calendar, noting the days he abused her in hopes that someday somebody would listen. "I have been waiting 25 years to vindicate myself and the other women of your sexual abuse," said Kuhn at the May hearing. She said Klever manipulated her, stole away her childhood innocence and caused her to lose her religion - but not her faith and trust in God. Kuhn said during the years of abuse, Klever gained influence over her by telling her how special she was. "He had a very interesting way of using your low self-esteem - when he was actually lowering it by what he was doing - but he would take it and raise you up. I was the most intelligent kid he ever met. I was (a) good egg," she said. "I began to believe what he was telling me. But on the inside, I knew - I always knew what was going on was wrong. He had a way that you would go there and he would talk to you. He knew how to relate to a teenager. ... He was the great manipulator." At the time of his plea, Klever offered a tearful apology, which Kuhn said she believed was real. "I do believe he is sorry. ... I did believe when I left here in May that he truly was remorseful." She said during her years of abuse, Klever managed to have her involved in all aspects of the church. "I was a teenager. I was the youngest member of that congregation to be asked to serve as a deacon. I didn't do it, but I was asked." She said she had no idea he was involved with other girls, but she did cross paths with the other victim over the years and wondered if the same thing was happening to her. She said later, after things began unraveling against Klever, she and the other victim had a chance meeting and she tried to convince her to come forward. She eventually did, but not at that time. She said the church was her haven from an unhappy home life. "I loved that church and I loved the members of the congregation. They were my family until I started telling everybody what had happened," she said. "I started telling people when it happened. It was wrong and nobody would listen. I told people when I was 13, when I was 14. I was humiliated. I was embarrassed." She said it was important to see Klever admit in court what he did. "I have not been heard for years. If they had listened, all those other people wouldn't have been hurt. That's what angers me," said Kuhn. Kuhn said eventually she did leave the church. She said three years ago, when she came out of rehab, she read a church newsletter and saw that the new pastor, Byron Leasure, now retired, was quoting Alcoholics Anonymous. "I waited awhile. Do I get shot down one more time or do I try again," Kuhn said. She added that she opted to tell him. She called Leasure and this time he listened. She said that night she went to an A.A. meeting and shared her story. "The woman sitting next to me put her hand up and said, 'The same church, the same minister.' "God works in very mysterious ways," said Kuhn. She said Leasure "jumped right on it." He began sending letters to people asking them to come forward. "From then on, the story unfolded," said Kuhn. During the May hearing, Leasure told Klever he was "sickened to hear the stories of manipulation and abuse." He maintained that Klever disgraced the ministry and led the victims down a path of "darkness, despair and helplessness" rather than to a path of hope. Kuhn said she no longer belongs to any church, but she said her belief in God is strong. "I am a very spiritual person and in my heart I don't believe I need a church," she said. At the May hearing, she said: "Today is the first day of the rest of my life and I am now released from the pain and suffering and I am free to become the whole person that God has created me to be."
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