A 62-year-old pastor in Florida has been arrested on horrific sexual battery charges involving a 15-year-old girl.
According to Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, an anonymous caller reported overhearing a girl, as she told an adult that she was with, that she had been been raped.
The caller said the girl and her grandmother had boarded a dinghy and headed out into the harbor in Marathon.
As deputies attempted to locate the victim, communications officers received a call from the suspect, 62-year-old Monte Chitty, who is the Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Marathon.
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Chitty told deputies that he was about to be accused of something, and he wanted to get ahead of it.
He said a young girl at his church had been drinking and had passed out on a couch in the library of the church. He said he helped her to lie down on the couch but did not touch her after that.
Meanwhile, deputies located the child on board a boat where she lives in the harbor.
The girl told investigators that Chitty gave her alcohol that she thinks might have been “spiked” with something else. She said she immediately began to feel weak and lost consciousness.
“She said when she woke up, she found Chitty sexually molesting her,” said MCSO.
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Further investigation by detectives revealed text messages between the victim and Chitty. In those messages, which were found on both his and her phones, Chitty made reference to having sexual relations with the girl while she was impaired.
Chitty was arrested and charged with sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was booked into the Monroe County Detention Center.
“Chitty was a registered volunteer with the Sheriff’s Office who offered his services as a pastor in April of 2023. To date, he has not performed any services for the office,” said MCSO.
Chitty was booked into Monroe County Jail on a $75,000 bond.
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