A 62-year-old man who served as a First Baptist Church pastor when a teenage girl accused him of giving her a spiked drink and sexually abusing her appeared in court on Saturday in the Florida Keys. Rev. Monte LaVelle Chitty, a registered police volunteer, appeared before Monroe County Circuit Judge James W. Morgan III at the Marathon Courthouse wearing a light blue jumpsuit and handcuffs. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Chitty on March 4 after they found incriminating text messages to the girl including, “I prefer you pass out after I play not before” and “You can’t...

A South Florida pastor accused of sexually battering a 15-year-old girl in his church became a wanted man Monday after skipping out on scheduled court hearings. He’s believed to be on the run. Monte Chitty, the 62-year-old pastor of First Baptist Marathon, had been released on a $75,000 bond soon after his March arrest. Prosecutors say Chitty, who was supposed to be arraigned Monday, fled in a white van with out-of-state plates and is no longer believed to be in the Florida Keys. “Our understanding is that he’s already on the road and he’s left the state of Florida,” Monroe...

In a news release, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Becky Herrin said deputies were informed of what happened after an anonymous caller reported overhearing a girl telling an adult that she had been raped. Herrin said the girl and her grandmother had boarded a dinghy and headed out to the harbor. Meanwhile, as deputies were searching for her, authorities received a second call. It was from Chitty, Herrin said. Chitty, Herrin said, told dispatchers “he believed he was about to be accused of something and he wanted to get ahead of it,” saying that “a young girl at...