Local

Jacksonville man accused of molesting teen inside church

PHOTOS: New evidence photos released in murder of Neptune Beach grandma

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of a Jacksonville man for lewd or lascivious battery, molestation and transmission of material harmful to minors.

Robert Browning, 59, is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a person under the age of 16.

According to the report from JSO, the minor and Browning exchanged nude photographs.

UPDATEDOfficials arrest third person in Florida viral gator beer run video

The report said Browning and the victim engaged in consensual oral sex and that Browning conducted lewd molestation on the victim.

Text messages from the phones were retrieved, revealing contestation about the relationship, the report said.

The incident is alleged to have occurred inside the Cedar Creek Baptist Church in Jacksonville. Browning had worked at the school and church for 6 years.

He has been fired.

The pastor, John Montgomery, said news of the arrest was a "total shock."

“Out of all the people who we have hired, out of these many many years, he would have been the last person that I would have thought to have done something like this," Montgomery said. "He never gave any appearance of this."

The church released this statement after Browning's arrest: 

Accusations of improper conduct involving a member of our staff were recently brought to our attention. In response, we immediately terminated our relationship with the individual in question and will be fully cooperating with all involved parties to bring this incident to a proper conclusion.

Cedar Creek Baptist Church and Christian School strictly follows all Federal and State procedures to guarantee the safety of our students by requiring our faculty and staff to be digitally fingerprinted through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement which reviews each teacher through a National FBI Database.

The National FBI Database revealed no previous record of problems with the staff member in question and prior to this incident we had no cause to suspect any impropriety.

Because of our diligence to provide a safe environment for our students an incident of this nature has never occurred during our 78 years of ministry. We are collectively shocked and saddened over these events and pray earnestly for any who have been impacted by them."