Uber driver on leave

Foster care agency awaiting outcome of kidnapping and sexual assault charges

An Uber driver accused of raping his passenger last weekend in Jupiter is no longer with the foster care agency where he worked, the agency says.

Authorities on Monday arrested Gary Kitchings, 57, of West Palm Beach, on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and burglary. He had been an Uber driver for six months, but Uber removed him as a driver after his arrest.

He lost his job as a foster care provider, too. Place of Hope, which provides emergency shelter and foster care, released a new statement last week, stating that “Mr. Kitchings is no longer employed by Place of Hope.”

Earlier in the week, Place of Hope had said it was placing him on leave pending the outcome of the case.

Kitchings was a “house parent” at Place of Hope’s KidSanctuary campus, said Place of Hope spokeswoman Michelle Brown.

The KidSanctuary Campus “brings in expert, professional foster parents who raise the children living in our homes,” according to its website. The children remain in the homes until they are adopted or reunited with their birth parents.

Brown declined to provide more details about Kitchings’ dismissal.

Kitchings’ accuser told police early Sunday she called the ride-hailing service to go home after SunFest in West Palm Beach.

The woman told police Kitchings flirted with her inside his car, and she wanted to jump out of the Nissan, but the doors were locked.

She told authorities he told her he had a gun under the seat, and that she was sexually assaulted in his car.

When they reached her apartment in Jupiter, he pushed his way inside her home, she told police. He told her he would “kill her and her dogs if she didn’t shut up,” and he raped her in her bedroom, a police report said.

Kitchings told the South Florida Times newspaper in 2015 that he and his wife were foster parents for more than 19 years at the time, sometimes to 10 to 12 children at once.

A spokeswoman for Florida Department of Children and Families told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday that it has opened an investigation to ensure no children were harmed at Place of Hope.

Kitchings’ public defender, Stephen Arbuzow, declined to comment Friday.

One of Kitchings’ relatives said she’s standing by him. Maggie Carbone, who said she is Kitchings’ niece, called him “a wonderful human being.”

“Nothing that is being said about him is at all in his character. At all!” she said. “He is a hero to many, including myself. A loving father, and husband, a man that has given his life to help others. He has always been an example person to me.

“We are all — his friends and family — shocked at these charges against him.”

Kitchings remained jailed without bond Friday.