JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Lake City pastor who was employed as the education supervisor at Florida State Prison until he was arrested on sexual battery charges 10 days ago was arrested on a similar charge, and the I-TEAM has learned why those charges were dropped
Antonio Carlisle, 45, remains in the Bradford County jail on a $700,000 bond, accused in an incident inside the state prison last August. The victim, a male inmate, immediately reported the rape after it happened. Carlisle was arrested earlier this month when police said the victim’s DNA linked Carlisle to the crime.
We learned last week that Carlisle was accused of a similar crime in 2002. On Monday, News4Jax learned why that charge was dropped.
According to an arrest report from the time, the sexual battery occurred inside Carlisle’s home near McCoy’s Creek in Jacksonville where a male victim claimed that Carlisle and another man held him down while the second man sexually assaulted the victim for five minutes. A medical examination of the victim immediately after the attack revealed trauma consistent with sexual battery and DNA was taken.
But court records reveal why Carlisle was never prosecuted.
In a 2003 disposition statement, prosecutors wrote “that the defendant Carlisle is 28 years old with no criminal history" while the victim “is a male with 3 public drinking convictions as well as a conviction for the felony sale of cocaine.”
Prosecutors added that the victim “was transient and refused to cooperate further,” saying “the suspect identified his attacker as “The Reverend” but there’s a very little likelihood of a successful prosecution."
Documents from Carlisle’s recent arrest show the inmate claimed Carlisle held him down physically and sexually assaulted him and police say they have the DNA evidence to prove it.
Lawyers for Carlisle entered a not guilty plea in a court hearing last week and a judge agreed to reduce his bond from $1.5 million to $700,000.
From what we can see from Bradford County court records, his next hearing has not been scheduled.