BOSTON -- A former Massachusetts rabbi has been indicted on child sexual assault charges dating back to the 1970s, when he allegedly assaulted two of his pre-teen male students, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said Thursday.

A Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments charging Stanley Z. Levitt, 63, of Philadelphia, with four counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14 for allegedly assaulting two former students of the Maimonides School in Brookline, where Levitt was a teacher.

"This was a betrayal of trust in the most awful sense," Conley said. "The evidence suggests that Levitt abused a position of power, respect, and authority to engage in sexual behavior with boys who were too young to resist and too afraid to speak out."

Levitt is charged with offenses against two former students, both about 11 years old at the time of the crimes, Conley said.

One charge stems from a May 1975 incident in which Levitt allegedly visited a Maimonides student who was recuperating at Children’s Hospital in Boston after an accident.

The other three offenses were allegedly committed against a different male student during a three-night visit to Levitt’s Chiswick Road home, also believed to have taken place in 1975.

"It was the tolling provision in the statute of limitations that allowed us to bring these charges," Conley said. "When Levitt left Massachusetts for Pennsylvania in 1980, the clock stopped and left him open to these charges."

Conley’s office learned of the allegations when the Children’s Hospital victim notified Boston police in September of last year.

Levitt is expected to face arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court on Oct. 17.