David Chenowith, 33, a former resident of Palm Coast’s Langdon Drive, pleaded guilty to eight charges of child sexual abuse and was sentenced by Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols on Wednesday to 14 years in prison and 20 years on sex-offender probation, an extremely restrictive punishment.
Chenowith, a felon who had previously served time in prison due to a conviction for drug offenses and evading law enforcement, was initially charged with 32 offenses, including molestation, encouraging a child’s sexual performance, and transmitting material about child sexual abuse, in addition to multiple counts of unlawful use of electronic communications devices. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office had earlier filed charges that included a case of statutory rape and a count of trafficking a minor, which is a felony punishable by life in prison. Those charges were dropped by the State Attorney’s Office.
Chenowith was convicted of all the crimes, and if the penalties had been imposed consecutively, he would have faced 340 years in prison overall.
Despite the rarity of such punishments, his sentencing scorecard totaled 426 months, or 35 and a half years, the lowest amount of time that may be spent in prison.
The charges were lowered to eight, all second-degree felonies with a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, as a result of a negotiated plea agreement between defense lawyer Doug Williams and assistant state attorney Melissa Clark. According to the agreement, Chenowith was sentenced to 14 years in prison for four counts of promoting a child’s sexual performance (he had recorded himself assaulting a minor on camera), 15 years in probation for two counts of molestation, and five years in probation for two more counts of molestation. These terms were to be served consecutively to the 14-year sentence.
Chenowitz was deemed a sexual offender by the court. As part of the sentencing, the prosecution and defense also agreed on Chenowitz’s sex-offender probation requirements, which include a lengthy list of limitations he must live with for 20 years after leaving jail and the possibility of reincarceration if he breaches any of them.
A curfew, a ban on living within 1,000 feet of any place where children congregate, such as schools, daycare centers, parks, and churches, a ban on working or volunteering there, including theme parks, a ban on any unsupervised interaction with anyone under the age of 18, a ban on using the internet until the end of a treatment program (restrictions apply after completion), the requirement to keep a driving log, and other restrictions are among the restrictions and prohibitions.
Below is the preceding article.
David Chenowith, 32, of Palm Coast, is accused of statutory rape, molestation, and child trafficking.
22 July 2024A woman called the Sheriff’s Operations Center at the end of June after receiving an unsettling Facebook post from a 16-year-old girl. Chelsea (*), the girl, advised the mom to make sure David Chenowith didn’t spend any time with her kids.
Chenowith, 32, is a Palm Coast resident, the father of a 10-year-old child, and a convicted felon with a lengthy arrest history and an almost three-year sentence in state prison. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested him on July 18 on allegations of human trafficking of a minor, statutory rape of a 16-year-old, and assaulting a girl under the age of 16—two second-degree crimes that carry a life sentence if found guilty.
Chelsea informed the woman that Chenowith may have sexually assaulted her younger sister and that he had slept with her since she was 15, which is illegal. Chelsea reported in an interview with Flagler County Sheriff’s officers that she had been hanging out with Chenowith despite her dislike of him because he had marijuana, bought her stuff, took her places, and claimed to be 19 years old, but he eventually admitted to being 32.
Additionally, he informed her that his only goal was to support her family. He handed Chelsea $3,000 to help the family move after meeting her mother. However, Chenowith began to exert tighter control over Chelsea and her family immediately after the transfer in May, stating that she was not allowed to be near guys. According to his arrest report, Chelsea had begun a relationship with him because he would try to exchange marijuana for sex at either his mother’s home on Langdon Drive in Palm Coast or at her apartment at Tuscan Reserve, where she resided for a month at the Microtel. He would advise her to make up her age while they were out in public.
In the event that he abused the girl without wearing protection, he also had Plan B, sometimes referred to as the morning-after pill.
Chenowith made a number of admissions using what are known as investigative procedures, which in these situations typically entail controlled conversations or texts with investigators at one end of the line, without the suspect’s knowledge: After getting in touch with him, Chelsea informed him that she was expecting a child: “You made a mistake and now I’m pregnant,” she said.
“All right, man, if a grown girl is trying to sell me a coochie, I haven’t made a mistake,” he said. I’m not making any mistakes.
He allegedly committed the crimes that made the trafficking allegations more serious last Wednesday: he gave her a video of himself sexually assaulting her after requesting sexually explicit images from her and then sent her $50 using Apple Pay.
According to his arrest report, Chenowith repeatedly attested to having sex with Chelsea during the investigation. According to the report, he began preparing her for sex when she was fifteen years old.
On July 18, authorities found Chenowith driving his Toyota on Matanzas Woods Parkway and issued a be-on-the-lookout for him. At Laramie and Lynwood Drive, he was stopped and forced to exit his car while brandishing a revolver. (At one point, a civilian vehicle that was not engaged in the stop comes in the line of fire at the junction, but it quickly backs up out of view.)
Chenowith’s arrest report stated that deputies had observed him making evasive moves in the vehicle before exiting. They were charged with fentanyl trafficking, a first-degree felony, and two counts of narcotics possession after they allegedly discovered marijuana, THC candies, THC cartridges, nine grams of fentanyl, and nine grams of cocaine.
In 2016, after being arrested for evading police after being pulled over in the Walmart parking lot, Chenowith wrote Circuit Judge Matt Foxman, “I am well aware of the horrendous crime I committed, as well as the shamefully, embarrassing way I went about getting arrested.” This led to Chenowith’s conviction and three-year prison sentence. He blamed the incident on others, writing, “I was in a very bad place.” His wife and daughter had gone to New Jersey for six weeks. I drove down a road with a false sense of security during the month my family was away. He bought a lot of drugs and partied in my place every day.
He pleaded with the judge, saying, “My lovely future wife and beautiful daughter would appreciate it more than you can ever know if you could do anything to save them.” He submitted a petition to establish the child’s paternity in 2020. It was discovered that he was her biological father. The mother of the child submitted an urgent motion for immediate, full custody on Friday.
On certain accusations, Chenowith is being held at the Flagler County jail on a $117,500 bond; on other charges, there is no bond. After an alleged altercation with his child’s mother last year, he is also facing a domestic violence allegation.
