Lake City pastor accused of sexual battery at prison has been accused before

The News4Jax I-TEAM also found that Antonio Carlisle worked at a Duval school for three years.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The News4Jax I-TEAM has uncovered new information about a Lake City pastor who stands accused of raping a Florida inmate.

Antonio Carlisle, 45, is charged with sexual battery and sexual misconduct for an incident that allegedly happened inside a state prison in Bradford County last year, according to a statement released Friday by the Department of Corrections.

The New4Jax I-TEAM also found that Carlisle was accused of sexual battery 18 years ago.

According to an arrest report from 2002, the sexual battery allegedly occurred inside Carlisle’s Jacksonville home near McCoy’s Creek. Just like the prison inmate alleges, the male victim in the 2002 case claims Carlisle and another man held him down and sexually assaulted him. The victim eventually dropped the case against Carlisle a year later.

The victim told detectives the man grabbed him and, with Carlisle’s help, pushed him down to the floor.

The victim said Carlisle held him down while the suspect sexually assaulted him for approximately five minutes before letting him go. A medical examination immediately after the attack revealed the victim had trauma consistent with sexual battery.

Carlisle was arrested and charged sexual battery, but a year later, court records show the case was dropped.

News4Jax is still waiting on information from the State Attorney’s office as to why the charges were abandoned.

The allegations, however, of being held down by force by Carlisle are similar to the claims a Florida inmate made last August, where the victim said Carlisle forcibly raped him inside Florida State Prison in Bradford County.

Carlisle was permitted to continue working as the prison’s education supervisor for more than four months even after the inmate told jail officials what happened and submitted to DNA testing.

It wasn’t until Jan. 31 of this year that an order was placed on Carlisle to have no contact with inmates.

In fact, News4JAX has learned that Carlisle helped oversee the graduation of 15 inmates from a vocational training program on the same day corrections officials took a swab of his DNA. Five days later, analysis of Carlisle’s DNA came back as a positive match.

News4Jax asked the Department of Corrections officials why Carlisle was allowed to continue working in the jail more than four months after being accused of rape. A spokesman only told us his case is an ongoing criminal investigation and releasable information is limited at this time.

At the time of the reported incident in jail, Carlisle was also employed as an Education Supervisor for the Department of Corrections. Carlisle, a senior pastor of Greater True Vine Missionary Baptist Church in Lake City, often spoke about the good work he was doing at the prison.

And Duval County Public Schools confirmed Monday that Carlisle also worked at James Weldon Johnson Middle School in Northwest Jacksonville from August 2013 through July 2016. According to his LinkedIn page, he was a business education teacher.

Carlisle remains in the Duval County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.


About the Author:

Tarik anchors the 4, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. weekday newscasts and reports with the I-TEAM.