A Florida Pastor was arrested on Wednesday, July 29, in Orlando for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old boy. Furthermore, the pastor, Timothy Chaneyfield, is reportedly HIV positive and exposed the teenager to the virus.
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Florida Pastor Exposes 14-Year-Old Boy To HIV
Timothy Chaneyfield is a pastor at St. James United American Free Will Baptist Church in Winter Haven. In addition, he is a chaplain for Compassionate Care Hospice and a former substitute teacher at Crystal Lake Middle School.
The Auburndale Police Department received a cyber tip about “illicit inappropriate activity” between an adult and a child and notified the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference on Tuesday, August 4 that Chaneyfield is a “child pedophile” and a “predator.” He also minced no words while listing the accusations against the Florida pastor.
“What we found is that Timothy Cheney went online with a dating app in search of children and that’s what he found was a 14-year-old child,” said Judd. “Did you hear what I said? A little boy.
“Then they moved from there over to the Instagram app where they chatted more often, ” he continued. “It first went to the Abundale Police Department. They determined this was in the unincorporated area and immediately called us and immediately we started our investigation.”
“Timothy took the 14-year-old to his home and when he took him to his home, he engaged the child in sex.
Chaneyfield was charged with three counts lewd battery of a minor and interfering with custody of a minor. In addition to that, he was also charged with unlawful use of a two-way communication device, three counts of traveling to meet a minor.
Timothy Chaneyfield Is HIV-Positive
Sheriff Judd also shared that Chaneyfield is HIV positive, and he was charged as an HIV-infected person having sex without informing partner.
“He confessed that he picked up this 14-year-old child on at least three different occasions, took him to Timothy’s home in Eagle Lake where he engaged this child in sex. But that wasn’t it. That wasn’t all. Timothy is HIV positive.
“He failed to tell this 14-year-old child that I’m HIV positive,” said Judd. “And he had unprotected sex with a child and exposed our 14-year-old victim to HIV.”
Chaneyfield was arrested on July 29 in Orlando. In addition, the Florida pastor was charged with marijuana possession and five counts of drug paraphernalia possession.
Man Says He’s HIV Positive After Sex With Pastor
A 26-year-old man came forward and revealed that he was HIV positive after having sex with the Florida pastor.
He asked that anyone with information about Timothy Chaneyfield having inappropriate contact with other minors or adult victims without disclosing his HIV status contact the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
“We fear that there’s other victims out there,” revealed Sheriff Judd. “Because he was very aggressive and very adamant about having sex with apparently adults or children.”
He also noted that the victim had been started on an HIV cocktail in hopes that he won’t become infected.
“We pray that our work was fast enough because we got the, our victim, the 14-year-old, the HIV cocktail that we stopped this child from being infected,” he said.
