Florida Keys pastor accused of sexually abusing girl at his church

Florida Keys deputies arrested a pastor Monday who is accused of plying a 15-year-old girl with alcohol and sexually abusing her at his church.

Monte Lavelle Chitty, 62, is being held in Monroe County jail with no bond on charges of sexual battery of a child, lewd and lascivious conduct and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The sheriff’s office said he gave the girl alcohol on Sunday and molested her on a couch inside First Baptist Church, located at 200 62nd Street in the Middle Keys city of Marathon.

Deputies said they found text messages on both the girl’s phone and Chitty’s phone in which “Chitty made reference to having sexual relations with the girl while she was impaired,” said sheriff’s office spokeswoman Becky Herrin.

The case first came to deputies’ attention, however, on Sunday when an anonymous caller told the sheriff’s office they overheard the girl tell an adult she had been raped. The caller said the girl then boarded a dinghy with her grandmother and headed out to the boat where they live in an offshore mooring field.

Just as deputies were trying to find the victim, Chitty called the sheriff’s office saying “he believed he was about to be accused of something and he wanted to get ahead of it,” Herrin said. Chitty said a young girl at his church had been drinking and passed out on a couch in the church’s library.

“He said he helped her to lie down on the couch but did not touch her after that,” Herrin said.

The cell phone messages obtained after deputies received a warrant Monday said otherwise, however, according to the sheriff’s office.

When deputies found the girl on her boat, she said Chitty gave her alcohol, and she thinks it may have been spiked with something else.

“She said she immediately began to feel weak and lost consciousness,” Herrin said. “She said when she woke up, she found Chitty sexually molesting her.”

The sheriff’s office said Chitty registered as a volunteer with the agency in April 2023, but, to date, “he has not performed any services for the office.”

The church did not respond to an emailed request for comment on Chitty’s arrest. The phone number listed on the church’s website is Chitty’s cell phone.