PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Troy priest is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon on charges related to the alleged rape of two minors in the late 1980s in western Massachusetts.

Rev. Gary Mercure, 60, was indicted in October by a Berkshire County grand jury on two counts of rape of a child with force and one count of indecent assault and battery of a child under 14. He is also charged with one count of rape with force for an incident involving a 13-year-old boy in 1989.

Mercure got to know the minors while working in New York parishes and took them to Massachusetts when the alleged rapes occurred, according to authorities.

Members of the Capital Region chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests will be present for the arraignment, coordinator Mark Lyman said this morning.

Berkshire County District Attorney's Office spokesman Frederick A. Lantz said the charges stem from an investigation by Massachusetts state police.

Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Bishop Howard J. Hubbard removed Mercure from ministry in August after concluding Mercure sexually abused a minor in the mid-1980s at St. Teresa of Avila Church in Albany.

Mercure had been a priest for 33 years and served in several area parishes, including Our Lady of Assumption in Latham, St. Theresa of Avila in Albany, St. Mary's in Glens Falls and St. Mary's in Clinton Heights.