Former Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church Pastor Sentenced

Correction | Jan 26, 2026: It was mistakenly reported that Christopher Whitehead was now designated as a sexual offender, when in fact he was designated as a sexual predator, which is a sexual offender who is a considered more dangerous under the law.

Editor's Notes: The headline was changed to reflect the sentencing.

Update | Jan 25, 2026: Christopher Whitehead was convicted of two counts of lewd of lascivious battery on January 22, 2026, after pleading no contest and sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 15 years of sex offender probation. Whitehead has time served credit for roughly 18 months in jail.

Whitehead, who is now a designated sexual predator, faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if he took his case to trial. The plea deal was accepted by Judge Robert Groeb. Court documents note that the victim's family did not want to make her testify, which she may have been forced to do if the case proceeded to trial.

As of now, Whitehead remains in the Alachua County Jail awaiting transportation to a Florida Department of Corrections facility.

Pastor Christopher Robin Whitehead, 35, of Mount Olive Primitive Baptist Church in Gainesville was arrested Sunday afternoon and charged with committing sexual battery against a minor between the ages of 12-17. The crime occurred in a single family home that was attached to or on the property of Mount Olive Church. 

According to the arrest form, Whitehead raped a underaged family member in the home the night before he was arrested. The girl reported Whitehead the next day to a trusted adult.

The adult confronted Whitehead and he reportedly responded by asking if "things could be fixed" and tried asking to talk to the girl alone. The adult said no and Whitehead was arrested by Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officers shortly after.

The arrest form doesn't say Whitehead admitted to the rape but it does say he "apologized for the situation and his role in putting them there."

It hasn’t yet been independently verified if Whitehead was the pastor or a pastor at Mount Olive. It appears he was the pastor, as in the head pastor over the ministry, as Gainesville Sun articles classify him as the singular pastor of the church with Deacons under him. However, the arrest form classifies Whitehead as a pastor, as in one out of two or more pastors employed at the church. 

Congregants of Mount Olive declined GnvInfo’s request for public comment regarding Whitehead’s arrest at their Bible study earlier today.

It appears Whitehead may have commuted from Tallahassee as the police report says he and his family were from Tallahassee and had been visiting for the 2nd year anniversary of the church. 

In a Gainesville Sun article from April 2023, when Whitehead was celebrating his first anniversary as pastor of Mount Olive, he said, “We as children will imitate preachers…. Nobody imitated them better than me.”