PIERRE, S.D. - A former state lawmaker will stand trial starting Tuesday on rape charges based on accusations he molested two of his foster daughters under the pretense of helping them make thousands of dollars by selling their reproductive eggs.

The charges against former Rep. Ted A. Klaudt, R-Walker, mark the second time in a year that the South Dakota Legislature has been rocked by allegations of improper sexual conduct by a lawmaker. One of Klaudt's alleged offenses occurred when a foster daughter was a page during a legislative session.

"This is a very unusual trial, and in our experience we've not seen anything quite like it," Attorney General Larry Long said, adding that he cannot comment further so near the start of the trial.

Klaudt, 49, is charged in both Hughes County, which includes the state Capitol, and in Corson County, where he lives.

The Hughes County trial on four charges of second-degree rape, which covers offenses that allegedly happen while Klaudt was in Pierre during the 2005 and 2006 legislative sessions, starts Tuesday and is expected to last two weeks. The trial on the Corson County charges, which include rape, other sex offenses, witness tampering and stalking, is scheduled to start Nov. 13.

Klaudt has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The maximum penalty for a conviction on each of the four second-degree rape charges in the Hughes County case is 25 years in prison.

The offenses allegedly occurred over several years when the girls ranged in age from 15 to 19 and were under foster care provided by Klaudt and his wife. The girls were among a number who were sent to Klaudt's home in a remote area of north-central South Dakota as part of a program that provides foster care for young people who have no safe home to return to after completing programs in South Dakota's juvenile corrections facilities.

The girls told law officers that Klaudt touched them during what he called exams for a purported scheme to have them donate their reproductive eggs to make money, $10,000 or more, according to court documents. He told the girls he had to examine them to determine whether they were suitable egg donors, authorities said.

A written affidavit filed in court by prosecutors said Klaudt initially denied that he performed any "tests" on the girls, but he later changed his story after investigators confronted him with e-mails he allegedly sent to one of the girls.

Klaudt then said "maybe I did some things I shouldn't have," the affidavit said.

Circuit Judge James W. Anderson, who is presiding over the Hughes County trial, has ruled the state can have witnesses testify about other conduct by Klaudt that is not included in the actual charges. That testimony will include other instances where Klaudt allegedly examined girls for egg donation or sought to have them photographed nude after he said he could help them become models.

In addition, the jury will be told about e-mails Klaudt allegedly sent to girls. Those computer messages can be used to corroborate testimony and other evidence presented in the trial, the judge said.

In an earlier hearing, the judge said he expected part of the defense strategy would involve attacking the credibility of the two alleged victims.

Klaudt, who farms and ranches near the tiny town of Walker, a few miles from the North Dakota border, was a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee during his eight-year legislative career in 1999-2006.