MARATHON, Fla. — A Marathon pastor who briefly fled to Texas while facing charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at his church in 2024 took a plea deal on Thursday, receiving a six-year state prison sentence.
Preacher-turned-fugitive Monte Chitty will now have to register as a sex offender for life. Facing a judge in Marathon on Thursday, the 64-year-old pleaded no contest to sexual battery of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies first arrested Chitty, then 62, on March 4, 2024, one day after they said he abused the girl.
Graphic texts, searches incriminate pastor
Investigators said while serving as pastor of First Baptist Marathon, located at 200 62nd St., he provided alcohol to the victim ― who believed the beverage was “spiked” ― and she passed out on a couch in his church’s library, later waking up to Chitty performing oral sex on her.
Authorities said Chitty sent the girl graphic text messages afterward acknowledging what happened, including complimenting her genitals using a cat emoji and telling her, “I prefer you pass out after I play not before” and “You can’t even remember what I did.”
He later probed her on what she recollected and described what he did to her, 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.
Authorities said he admitted to sending the texts.
MCSO detectives later revealed a concerning Google search history, including “how to make sex for a virgin less painful.”
They said the girl told her grandmother what happened after leaving the church and deputies arrested him the next morning.
Escape to Texas; past ‘disturbing incident’ in Alaska
After being bonded out of jail, Chitty skipped out on an April 2024 bond hearing and fled to the small town of Woodville, Texas. U.S. Marshals and local law enforcement captured him days later after he “reportedly approached a Texas church group that was working with the homeless,” prompting a call to police.
He’s been jailed in the Florida Keys ever since his extradition back to South Florida.
Chitty lived in several states before Florida, including Alaska, where he worked in churches and as a law enforcement officer in remote villages.
His arrest in the Keys drew the attention of Alaska media outlets, including the Anchorage Daily News, which reported on an alleged “disturbing incident” by Chitty in Cold Bay, Alaska that led parishioners at a church to chip in to fly a girl out of town. Chitty has no Alaska criminal record.
Prosecutors sought ‘more significant’ sentence
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped charges of lewd and lascivious conduct and a failure to appear charge related to Chitty fleeing to Texas.
In a news release, a spokesperson for the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office said they had “sought a more significant prison sentence.”
But, they said, “the negotiated plea resolved the case without requiring the victim to return to Monroe County or testify at trial, consistent with her expressed wishes.”
“Holding offenders accountable is always our priority, but when justice can be achieved without forcing a victim to relive a traumatic experience in a courtroom, that is a significant consideration,” Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said in the release. “This resolution accomplishes both by securing a state prison sentence, long-term supervision through sexual offender probation, and lifetime sex offender registration.”
Chitty, as part of the agreement, will spend 10 years on sex offender probation in addition to being on the registry for life. He’ll also have to pay a little more than $3,600 in fines plus court and prisoner transportation costs.
Court records indicate that Chitty plans to move to Texas after he finishes serving time in Florida.
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