A suburban New Orleans religious pastor has been convicted of sexually molesting two minors in what is the third instance of a man called “the worst kind of predator” being found guilty of abusing teen boys.

Terry Reed, 66, cited biblical verses and scripture to “manipulate, normalize and justify his sexual behavior” with the two victims at the center of the newest case against him, according to a statement from Louisiana state prosecutors.

One of those victims began visiting and then moved into Reed’s home at age 16 in August 2021, after the boy’s relationship with his mother became strained. Reed then abused that teenager on multiple occasions before the victim reported him to authorities, leading to his arrest in 2023.

At that point, the second victim came forward to report that he, too, had repeatedly endured sexual abuse by Reed after moving into the pastor’s home in May 2011 at age 16.

Prosecutors in Louisiana’s Jefferson parish – which is the state’s word for county – subsequently charged Reed with two counts each of third-degree rape and molestation of a juvenile. The jury in front of whom Reed was tried deliberated for less than an hour on 6 May to find him guilty as charged.

That verdict against Reed came nearly 20 years after he pleaded guilty in 1997 to a separate charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile. He had also pleaded guilty in 2017 to molestation of a juvenile, telling the victim in that case that “to fight off demons” he had to submit to certain acts, the office of the Jefferson parish district attorney, Paul Connick, said in its 7 May statement.

Reed received probation in both of the previous cases. He was ministering out of his home in the Jefferson community of Terrytown when he was arrested in connection with the case that culminated in his most recent conviction.

According to prosecutors, at the time of his 2023 arrest, Reed “readily admitted” that he was a sex offender. Nonetheless, he asserted at one point that medical ailments left him unable to perform sexually – and that he had been celibate for a decade.

Then he maintained that whatever sex he engaged in with his accusers occurred when they had reached Louisiana’s age of legal consent, which is 17.

Prosecutor James Wascom told jurors seated for Reed’s trial that the pastor had demonstrated a pattern of “preying on these very, very troubled boys who don’t have a father figure in their lives”.

Wascom’s co-counsel, Eric Cusimano, said Reed “held himself out to be a saint” in the eyes of victims as well as his congregation, including some who testified on his behalf. Yet in reality “he is the worst kind of predator … that we can have”, Cusimano said in court, according to Connick’s office.

Reed’s sentencing is tentatively scheduled for 18 June in front of Jefferson state judge Raymond Steib. He could face up to 25 years in prison for the third-degree rape convictions. For the convictions of molestation of a juvenile, Reed could be sentenced to between five and 40 years in prison.

Another chapter in Reed’s past that did not come up in court involved the deaths of two boys – ages 12 and 13 – in a hot tub at his home in 2002. Authorities later determined that the children had been electrocuted, though they said they were unable to classify whether the deaths had been a homicide, suicide, accidental or natural, according to a contemporary news media report.

The US has grappled for decades with sexually abusive religious leaders in various denominations.

One of the latest high-profile cases was that of former Christian missionary Daniel Savala, who pleaded guilty on Thursday in Texas to charges that he sexually abused two boys and was sentenced to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

Another such case was that of former Catholic priest Robert Mendez Esquivel, who in late April was sentenced in Idaho to a maximum of 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual battery of a minor.