EBENSBURG, Pa.—The state attorney general will take over the investigation of a central Pennsylvania priest suspended last year amid allegations of sexual abuse involving children in the 1970s.

Cambria County District Attorney Kelly Callihan says the her office referred the case to state prosecutors because one of her staff attended church in a parish where the Rev. George Koharchik served for several years.

The Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in August suspended Koharchik, who had been pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena Parish in Mount Union. He also spent a decade at St. Clement Church in Upper Yoder Township, near Johnstown, and eight years at St. Casimir in Johnstown.

The Associated Press has been unable to locate the 63-year-old priest for comment. He's barred from public ministry and contact with children because of allegations he abused children in the 1970s.