A Broward teenager is accusing a Fort Lauderdale youth pastor of sexually molesting him for the past 10 years, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Jeffery London, 48, was arrested Wednesday night at his home in Lauderdale Lakes after returning from conducting Bible study at the Bible Church of God in Fort Lauderdale, BSO said.

The now-18-year-old victim recently confided in a friend from church that he was abused repeatedly over the decade he lived with London. The victim’s mother had left him in London’s care when he was 8 years old after facing financial difficulties, according to BSO’s investigative report.

It would not be the first time London has taken in a troubled youth.

In addition to working at the Bible Church of God, London was the dean of students at Eagle Charter Academy in Lauderdale Lakes from 2003 to 2009, and was a counselor at the Boys and Girls Club in Fort Lauderdale, investigators said.

He has been a father figure to more than 15 young boys over the years. One was born a “crack baby” to a mother with a cocaine addiction. Another was left on his doorstep when the boy’s family scattered after a hurricane. Some were orphaned by murders and suicides.

He introduced them as his sons. They called him Dad.

“You’ve got to put out. You’ve got to be there for them. Love them. Discipline them. Stand by them,” London said in an interview with the Sun Sentinel in 2006. “You can be the link in a child’s life that holds that life together.”

London gave motivational speeches, participated in anti-drug programs, and wrote skits and plays about the civil rights movement.

In August 2006, London said engaging youngsters keeps them away from gangs, drugs and other negative elements.

“If you can influence one child, turn one child, from the negative to positive, then you can influence a whole generation,” London said.

Some of the boys he took in graduated from high school and went on to get college degrees.

A few returned to a life of crime on the streets.

“They can’t say someone wasn’t there for them,” London said in 2006.

At that time, London was divorced with a daughter in college and living with five youths in a two-story, four-bedroom home in Coral Springs. It was a big step up from a one-bedroom apartment he sometimes shared with up to eight boys.

An anonymous sympathizer had heard London talk a few years earlier and was touched by his taking in these children. The person asked to help, saw they were living in a one-bedroom apartment and offered to buy a bigger home, he said.

The BSO Special Victims Unit is urging anyone who has been a victim of or has information about London to contact Detective Julie Bower at 954-321-4240 or Broward Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 954-493-8477 or www.browardcrimestoppers.org.

Sun Sentinel staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.