Look for him in the Rose Motel in Chitt's Creek.
Posted on 04/04/2024 11:05:09 AM PDT by Morgana
A South Florida pastor arrested for sexually assaulting an impaired teenage girl missed his arraignment and is now believed to have fled the state, authorities said Monday.
Monte Chitty, 62, was arrested early last month and charged with sexual battery on a 15-year-old girl. He was booked into the Monroe County Detention Center but later released on a $75,000 bond.
Chitty, who authorities say is the pastor at the First Baptist Church in Marathon, was expected back in court on Monday. However, he didn’t show up for his hearing and is now believed to be on the run. He was seen in a white van with out-of-state license plates, prosecutors said.
“Our understanding is that he’s already on the road and he’s left the state of Florida,” Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward told local television station WPLG on Monday.
The investigation into Chitty began early last month, after authorities were notified of the alleged abuse by an anonymous caller who reported “overhearing the girl as she told an adult she was with she’d been raped,” the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
As officers attempted to locate the victim, Chitty called the sheriff’s office to say that a young girl had passed out on a couch in the library of the church. He told authorities he was worried he was going to be accused of something and wanted to tell his version of the story — that he simply helped the teen lie down on the couch but didn’t touch her after that.
When the girl was located by the sheriff’s deputies, she said Chitty had given her alcohol, which she thinks it might have been “spiked.”
Further investigation revealed that in text messages found on both his and her phones, Chitty “made reference to having sexual relations with the girl while she was impaired,” authorities said.
Chitty, who was a registered volunteer with the sheriff’s office, was arrested and charged with sexual assault and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The First Baptist Church, which believes that Christians should oppose “all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography,” didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
What a chitty thing to do
He shouldn’t have done the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with a minor
The government loves it when people breach their bond. Free money.
Men of the cloth are causing an epidemic of sexual abuse to children. I wonder if we need to have three adults in the room anytime a religious person is with a child. It might be the only way to control these guys.
I read what you wrote there.
Will they have to give it back when he is caught?
“I wonder if we need to have three adults in the room anytime a religious person is with a child.”
Does this apply only to “religious” people?
Are there ever instances of non-religious people committing sexual crimes against children?
He did the full Monty with a 15 year old girl? That's a Chitty thing to do.
Sorry. I had to.
“I wonder if we need to have three adults in the room anytime a religious person is with a child.”
The problem with that is...only the honest and principled religious people will abide by that rule...which kind of brings us right back to where we are now. Sigh.
There are some women who do “come on” to their priest or pastor. Our pastor told us he is never alone with a woman wishing to speak to him. Some women who send out false signals they want to have a relationship with their pastor.
A local church had a problem with a young youth pastor being “come on to” by the teen girls in his class.
I have read that some pastors always have someone check their room after a service in a different town.
Nope, its now forfeit. When I worked for the INS our 'breached bond account' was a major source of our operational funds. They would give a bond to aliens they knew perfectly well would never show up.
As the aliens saw it they were just paying a bribe to get out of immigration jail. The INS saw it as a source of funding.
Now everyone is released with no bond.
Look for him in the Rose Motel in Chitt's Creek.
The bondsmen, not so much. They’ll be assisting in finding the reverend. These days I suppose if he has a good disguise and a whole bunch of money in cash he had a reasonable chance of remaining at large of 60 days or more. Unless he has both of those they’ll have him within a week
Enter bounty hunters to help the cops and themselves.
If the charges are true and the way the article has him tried and convicted as it is, it would be better when they find him, that they find him already having put a bullet into his own brain. 62 years old...what a waste of his life. I wonder if he has done this to others..
Of course but much smaller numbers.
I volunteer with a Christian youth ministry. Among other things, we require two registered adults at all ties when youth are around. Without exception.
It happens. It has happened to me.
It's not an excuse.
The pastor/teacher/coach/whatever is supposed to be the adult in the room; supposed to stop the trouble before it gets started.
We have too many immature "adults" and too many predators.
He probably has
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