A Butler County man is jailed on charges he fathered four children with a daughter he repeatedly raped for more than 20 years.

The Summit Township man began the alleged abuse in 1992 when the daughter was 12 and continued until August when she came forward with the allegations, state police said.

Police on Friday arrested the suspect on 71 counts of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, statutory rape, indecent assault, aggravated indecent assault and incest.

He is in the Butler County Prison on $500,000 bail.

The Butler Eagle is not naming the defendant to avoid identifying the alleged victim.

Trooper Gesuele Burello called the case “disturbing.” He said the accuser plied his daughter with alcohol to “overcome her resistance” when the alleged abuse started.

He said the suspect also forced his daughter to have sex with him “or suffer unpleasant and painful consequences.”

Burello said the woman for years kept her secret because her father had convinced her that she, too, was to blame.

“There was a lot of grooming by him, with him telling her that she would be in just as much trouble as he if this came out,” Burello said.

“He gave her a lot of alcohol at a very young age and groomed her into a position of her not knowing any better.”

The trooper declined to say what ultimately led the accuser on Aug. 26 to disclose the allegations. She initially told authorities with the Butler County Children and Youth Services.

CYS officials had previous contact with the family and had suspicions about the family members’ relationships. He declined to elaborate.

Burello said he first interviewed the alleged victim Aug. 30.

He said the woman apparently grew up and lived with her mother in Ohio until she was 12. The accuser’s mother was married more than once and had other children.

“At some point she was unable to care for the (victim),” Burello said. “(The victim) said her mother dropped her off with her father.”

The defendant at the time was living alone in Allegheny County.

During the years of suspected sexual abuse that followed, the accuser delivered four children — in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2000, all in Allegheny County.

The eldest child died last year of natural causes.

The woman told authorities that during their time living together, the defendant took photographs of her. Burello described some of the photos as sexually explicit.

Police said they have recovered “a large number of such photographs” as part of their investigation.

After his daughter raised the allegations, the defendant agreed to submit to genetic paternity tests.

The tests established that he is the natural father of the accuser and her four children, Burello said.

Police tried to interview the defendant on Friday but he invoked his right to speak to his attorney. Burello said the interview was terminated.

He declined to provide any additional information about the accuser or her whereabouts.

“She’s safe where she’s at,” Burello said, “but she’s fearful of her father.”

The woman’s children remain in foster care under CYS custody.

The defendant’s preliminary hearing at District Judge Pete Shaffer’s office in Butler was not immediately scheduled.