Acting state Attorney General Michelle Henry on Tuesday, Feb. 7, announced sexual abuse charges against five men of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith, including one from Butler County.

Kevin Isovitsch, 51, is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 9-year-old girl. Isovitsch has been charged with rape, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors.

Victims and defendants in all five cases were member of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations. The arrests follow sexual abuse charges against four members of Jehovah’s Witnesses congregations in October 2022.

“The details of these crimes are sad and disturbing, facts which are made even more abhorrent because the defendants used their faith communities or their own families to gain access to victims,” Henry said. “Our office will never stop working to seek justice for those who have been victimized, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who harms the most vulnerable in our society.”

Criminal charges also were filed against Marc Brown, of Allegheny County; Raymond Shultz, of Beaver County; and Abimael Valentin-Matos and Norman Aviles, of Lancaster County.

The charges for all five stem from the 49th investigating grand jury and are charged by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. Through the investigation, it was alleged these men sexually abused and exploited minors with whom they had close contact, in some cases members of their own family.

Brown, Shultz, Matos and Isovitsch have been arrested and detained. Aviles is at large.

In October, another Butler County member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses faith, Eric Eleam, 61, was charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

When agents from the Office of Attorney General and police from Butler County attempted to take him into custody on Oct. 27, Eleam “retreated into his bathroom and killed himself behind closed doors,” former Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a news release in October.

Eleam was alleged to have sexually abused a minor and used sexual molestation as a form of discipline.