The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Monte Chitty, pastor of First Baptist Church of Marathon, Florida, was recently charged with sexual battery of a minor, lewd and lascivious conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. First Baptist is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
A newly-released arrest report details explicit text messages that deputies say a Marathon pastor sent a 15-year-old girl after plying her with alcohol and sexually battering her while she was passed out on a couch in his church’s library.
Monte Lavelle Chitty, 62, was arrested Monday on multiple charges, including sexual battery of a minor. Jail records show he was released on a $75,000 bond just before 10 p.m.
Chitty is the pastor of First Baptist Marathon, located at 200 62nd St. The arrest report states he also lives on the church property.
The alleged assault happened on Sunday. Deputies said they were first alerted to it after someone overheard the victim telling her grandmother what happened.
Chitty, deputies said, called the sheriff’s office about an hour later because he believed the girl “was going to make allegations against him.”
He claimed, according to the report, that he “intended to take (the girl) home to her grandmother while delivering meals to the homeless” and, seeing she was drunk, had allowed her to sleep on the couch.
The report states he told deputies the girl left while he was taking a phone call that afternoon and said that “while doing deliveries at the Marathon City Marina, he observed (the victim) with her grandmother and walked towards them, at which point (the girl) began to scream, and (he) left.”
The girl, however, would tell deputies that Chitty had given her what she believed was a “spiked” drink, the report states.
“She stated that after drinking what she thought to be vodka, she felt weak, could not walk and eventually lost consciousness while at the church,” deputies wrote.
Authorities said she woke up to Chitty performing oral sex on her.
“She stated after he was done and left, she got up and ran out and contacted her grandmother to pick her up,” deputies wrote in the report.
The report states she then showed text messages from Chitty. They came from the same number he used to call the Monroe County Sheriff’s office, deputies said.
According to the report, in the text messages, using a cat emoji, Chitty first complimented the girl’s genitals.
“I prefer you pass out after I play not before,” deputies say the pastor then texted her. “You can’t even remember what I did.”
He later probed her on what she recollected and described what he did to her, deputies said.
After telling the girl how he abused her, Chitty told her, “Straighten up (woman’s name) is here,” the report states.
Online publications and social media posts indicate that Chitty is married to a woman with the same name.
The report states Chitty then complimented her genitals again. After she replied “ig,” short for “I guess,” deputies said Chitty replied, “Just say thank you.”
According to the report, he went on to compliment the teen’s breasts and encouraged her to sit on the couch in a way to make it “easier” to perform oral sex on her.
Deputies said Chitty later provided them consent to search his phone. They said his text messages matched those on the victim’s phone and said the messages also showed him admitting to giving her vodka.
“Mr. Chitty admitted to sending the text messages but later invoked his right to an attorney and denied the sexual contact,” deputies wrote in the report.
Deputies would take Chitty into custody early Monday morning.
The report states the victim was given a sexual assault examination, the results of which will be sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for processing.
In addition to the sexual battery charge, Chitty faces counts of lewd and lascivious behavior and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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He’s still listed as the pastor on the church website, so apparently they’re rallying around him. Or nobody’s gotten around to changing the website yet.