Police have revealed the content of text messages allegedly sent by Florida pastor Monte Lavelle Chitty to a 15-year-old girl he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted. The messages are disturbing and graphic in nature.
Editor’s note: This article contains information about sexual abuse and assault that some readers may find disturbing and/or triggering.
Chitty, 62, is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Marathon, Florida. The congregation is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). He was arrested at his church, which is also his place of residence, on Monday (March 4) after calling the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office “to get ahead” of allegations he thought might be brought against him.
Prior to Chitty’s call, deputies received a call from an anonymous caller who overheard the 15-year-old girl say that she had been raped.
Deputies interviewed the girl, who said that Chitty had given her alcohol that she believes was mixed with other drugs. She reported immediately feeling weak and she soon fell unconscious. She said that she awoke to Chitty performing oral sex on her.
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The girl said that after Chitty had finished, she fled, contacting her grandmother to come and pick her up.
Chitty told deputies that he had intended to take the girl home while he was out delivering meals to unhoused individuals but allowed her to sleep on his couch after he realized that she was drunk.
Chitty said that the girl left while he was taking a phone call, and when he saw her with her grandmother later that day while he was delivering meals, she began to scream.
Text messages obtained by police from both Chitty’s and the girl’s phones contradict key aspects of Chitty’s narrative. In a report obtained by Local 10, police said that Chitty admitted to giving the girl vodka in a text message.
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Chitty also reportedly sent lewd messages to the teen, using a cat emoji to compliment the girl’s genitals. He then probed her about what she could remember about the assault.
