A Roman Catholic priest was charged Tuesday with sexually abusing at least two boys during his four decades in the Erie diocese, and making one of them say confession after the alleged assaults.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the arrest of the 64-year-old Rev. David Poulson of Oil City as part of a statewide grand jury investigation. According to court records, Poulson is facing at least eight charges, including indecent assault and child endangerment for incidents dating to 2002.

Court records don’t list an attorney for Poulson, and a phone call to a number listed for him was not answered Tuesday. He was being held Tuesday on $300,000 cash bail. He faces a maximum of 64 years in prison, if convicted, and $135,000 in fines.

Prosecutors said Poulson resigned from the diocese in February after a phone call was received a month earlier from a military chaplain in Fort Hood, Texas, saying a 23-year-old had disclosed he was abused by Poulson starting when he was 8 years old.

Poulson allegedly abused one of his victims in multiple church rectories more than 20 times while he served as an altar boy, according to a release from the attorney general’s office. Poulson would then require the boy to make confession to him and confess the sexual assault to receive absolution, it said.

“This was the ultimate betrayal and manipulation by Poulson — he used the tools of the priesthood to further his abuse,” Shapiro wrote in a release about the charges.