PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) - The Kitsap County sheriff's office said it has received accounts from three women and one girl who claim a former pastor committed sexual abuse against them while they were minors.

The sheriff's office said the detectives' latest interviews were with females aged 24, 20, 20 and 16.

Their alleged abuser is Robbin Leeroy Harper, 60, who was charged on Thursday with eight felonies in connection with accusations of molestation or rape by five women or girls. The victims were all members of the Church in South Colby, where Harper previously served as pastor. Current church members say he stepped down as pastor more than three years ago.

The charges stem from incidents that prosecutors say involved five victims between 1994 and 2006.

"There was a pattern of sexual abuse that would cover the gamut of sexual activities that occurred with Pastor Robbin Harper being the instigator," said Kitsap County Sheriff spokesman Scott Wilson.

The investigation began last month when a woman contacted police and said she was sexually assaulted by Harper multiple times over several years beginning when she was 12 years old.

According to court documents, another victim told police that she initially refused the pastor's sexual advances. But she says, he told her: "She needed to get over these feelings so she wouldn't have problems with intimacy the rest of her life."

Harper allegedly showed her pornography so "she would know how to perform these sex acts."

"All of them have said this was a typical conduct on how he would start a relationship with children," Wilson said.

Another alleged victim gave a similar account, saying Harper had her come to his office for sex acts when she was 12, told her "he was preparing her for marriage" and that he "loved only her."

"The victims in this case, all of them, were scared," Wilson said Sunday. "I believe because they lived in a close-knit society, that they were afraid to come forward for fear of retaliation in one form or another."

Investigators say Harper also molested several of the girls inside his church office.

In all, 11 women and girls have accused him of molesting or raping them while he served as pastor.

Harper remains in the Kitsap County jail in Port Orchard on $500,000 bail. His next appearance in Kitsap County Superior Court will be November 29.