Shelby County Circuit Judge Dan Reaves revoked youth evangelist Matt Pitts bond and issued a writ for his arrest on Friday following an arrest warrant issued by Jefferson County on new charges of impersonating a peace officer, according to sources close to the situation. Pitt’s arrest in Jefferson County could be a violation of the conditions of his probation. The revocation was sought by the Shelby County District Attorney’s office and granted by Reaves on Friday afternoon, who ordered Pitt held without bond pending a hearing before the Shelby County court.
If Pitt is found is found guilty of violating the conditions of his probation, Reaves could order him to serve the remainder of his sentence in jail.
Pitt was arrested in May of 2012 on similar charges of impersonating a peace officer by the Calera Police Department in May of 2012. He pleaded guilty in Shelby County Court in September of 2012 to charges of impersonating a peace officer, a Class C felony in Alabama. He was originally sentenced to one year in jail, but that sentence has been reduced. Pitt is serving two years on unsupervised probation and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
On Friday, the Jefferson County District Attorney issued an arrest warrant for youth evangelist Matt Pitt on charges of impersonating an officer in Grayson Valley in mid June.
According to a statement from Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy Christian, on June 15, 2013 at about 6 p.m. deputies were called to the 5200 block of Falling Creek Lane to investigate a report of a man impersonating a law enforcement officer. It was reported a suspicious vehicle was sitting in front of a the residence about two hours earlier and the resident had seen people going back and forth between the vehicle and a nearby wooded area. The caller reported that he went to investigate and discovered a rifle hidden at the edge of the woods. The people he had seen were nowhere around the rifle. He then called the sheriff’s office to report the discovery of the weapon.
“While he was waiting, two men approached on ATV’s,” Christian said. “One of the men retrieved the weapon. The resident told them that he had called the sheriff’s office about the weapon and asked them what they were doing. Neither was able to provide a satisfactory answer. According to the witness, at this point the suspect that had retrieved the rifle presented himself as a law enforcement officer. The pair then drove off on the ATV’s. The witness did not speak to them further because he believed they were law enforcement officers. The suspect was later positively identified as Larry Mathew Pitt.”
“This case was forwarded to the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division to be investigated,” Chistian said in the statement. “On August 14, 2013 detectives presented the case to the District Attorney and an arrest warrant was issued for 30 year old Larry Mathew Pitt for the charge of Impersonating a Peace Officer. Bond is set at $15,000. Sheriff’s officials attempted to notify the suspect of the outstanding warrant and the suspect was reported to be out of town. He is expected to surrender on this charge upon his return.”
As of Monday afternoon, Christian said Pitt had not yet turned himself in to authorities.