WORCESTER, Mass. -- Former Leominster, Mass., priest Robert E. Kelley, 60, pleaded not guilty to child rape charges Thursday morning at his arraignment in Worcester Superior Court.

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One of the victims alleges that the abuse took place over a six-year period in the 1980s, starting when she was just four years old.

NewsCenter 5's Jack Harper reported that Kelley, who now lives in Worcester, has not been an active priest since the late 1980s, but was never defrocked.

Kelley, who has not been a priest since 1985, pleaded guilty in March 1990 to assault with intent to rape a Gardner, Mass., girl in another case. He was released from prison in 1997. Friday he arrived at court to face five new rape charges and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

"It's hard for me to hear him say 'Not guilty' because I used to hope that he would tell the truth. But I kinda went in today expecting that he wouldn't," said alleged victim Heather Mackey.

The indictment alleges that Mackey was abused between 1980 and 1986, from the time she was four years old to the time she was nine, while he was a priest at St. Cecilia's Church in Leominster.

Kelley was allowed to remain out on personal recognizance. Mackey says she understood the court process, but other alleged victims said they do not.

"They're victimizing us again, each time we come here. Coming down here this morning, we're driving in the car, we're thinking of how great it's going to be -- he's having his last morning of freedom. And they let him walk. You know, he's going to be free tonight. I'm going to go home and I'm going to be suffering," said Karen Pederson.

District Attorney John Conte said he addressed the issue of bail in the Kelley case, talking with the alleged victims about the fact that Kelley has met the needs of probation. He was ordered to stay away from the victim and to stay away from any children under the age of 16.