Florida Pastor Spikes 15-Year-Old Girl's Drink Before Sexual Battery: Cops

A Florida pastor was thrown in jail after authorities accused him of sexually battering a 15-year-old girl at his church. According to WPLG , 62-year-old Monte Lavelle Chitty , of Marathon was arrested Monday morning (March 4) for charges of sexual battery of a minor, lewd and lascivious conduct, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said they got a call about someone overhearing a girl telling an adult she had been raped. While deputies were searching for the victim, Chitty, who's the pastor of First Baptist Marathon, contacted dispatchers about impending accusations against him, a news release states.

Chitty allegedly told dispatchers "he wanted to get ahead of" the allegations before describing a "young girl" at his church. The pastor claimed the teenager was drinking and passed out on a couch in the church library, deputies said. He then alleges he helped her "lie down on the couch but did not touch her after that," according to officials.

Deputies made contact with the 15-year-old victim, who told authorities the pastor "gave her alcohol that she thinks might have been ‘spiked’ with something else." The girl claims she immediately felt weak and fell unconscious after consuming the drink, the sheriff's office wrote. The teenager alleges she found Chitty molesting her when she woke up.

"Further investigation by detectives revealed text messages between the victim and Chitty," officials wrote. "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."

The news release noted Chitty has been a registered volunteer with the sheriff's office since April 2023 but has not performed any services for the agency.

Online jail records show Chitty was released from jail on Monday.