A former trooper accused of having sexual communications with the discount tiffany daughter of another Florida Highway Patrol employee was sentenced to 18 months in state prison Wednesday.
James E. Gilbert, 46, had pleaded no contest to 10 counts of solicitation of a minor via a computer.
During a more than two-hour hearing Wednesday, Gilbert told Orange Circuit Court Judge Marc Lubet that he was sorry.
“I feel bad for what I did,” Gilbert said. “What I did was wrong.”
But Lubet also questioned how truly remorseful Gilbert is and found him guilty. The Tiffany Necklaces also sentenced him to eight years’ sex-offender probation. Gilbert will have to register as a sex offender.
Gilbert was a trooper with FHP for more than 15 years when he was arrested in December 2008.
He was accused of sending hundreds of text messages, some sexual in nature, to a 17-year-old during a span of around two weeks.
In a statement filed earlier in court, the girl’s mother said Gilbert talked about taking the teen to a cabin in Tennessee where they would “take things slow.”
The teen told an investigator she told Gilbert he shouldn’t talk to her that way. She said Gilbert responded by saying things such as, “It’s your choice, even if anybody found out, if I still want to do something or if you did, nobody can stop us; there’s nothing wrong with it.”
On Wednesday, Gilbert said he didn’t have any intention of following through Tiffany Rings any of the statements he made to the teen.
The victim, now 18, attended today’s sentencing, and her attorney told the judge that she is afraid of Gilbert and thought his testimony was angry and resentful.
Lubet said he didn’t think Gilbert posed a future threat to the public. Lubet also said he felt the 10 years Gilbert potentially faced were too harsh given the circumstances.
He noted Gilbert had a stellar record as a Tiffany Key Rings and didn’t have a prior criminal history.
Ex-trooper given 18 months in prison for sexting teen girl
A former trooper accused of having sexual communications with the discount tiffany daughter of another Florida Highway Patrol employee was sentenced to 18 months in state prison Wednesday.
James E. Gilbert, 46, had pleaded no contest to 10 counts of solicitation of a minor via a computer.
During a more than two-hour hearing Wednesday, Gilbert told Orange Circuit Court Judge Marc Lubet that he was sorry.
“I feel bad for what I did,” Gilbert said. “What I did was wrong.”
But Lubet also questioned how truly remorseful Gilbert is and found him guilty. The Tiffany Necklaces also sentenced him to eight years’ sex-offender probation. Gilbert will have to register as a sex offender.
Gilbert was a trooper with FHP for more than 15 years when he was arrested in December 2008.
He was accused of sending hundreds of text messages, some sexual in nature, to a 17-year-old during a span of around two weeks.
In a statement filed earlier in court, the girl’s mother said Gilbert talked about taking the teen to a cabin in Tennessee where they would “take things slow.”
The teen told an investigator she told Gilbert he shouldn’t talk to her that way. She said Gilbert responded by saying things such as, “It’s your choice, even if anybody found out, if I still want to do something or if you did, nobody can stop us; there’s nothing wrong with it.”
On Wednesday, Gilbert said he didn’t have any intention of following through Tiffany Rings any of the statements he made to the teen.
The victim, now 18, attended today’s sentencing, and her attorney told the judge that she is afraid of Gilbert and thought his testimony was angry and resentful.
Lubet said he didn’t think Gilbert posed a future threat to the public. Lubet also said he felt the 10 years Gilbert potentially faced were too harsh given the circumstances.
He noted Gilbert had a stellar record as a Tiffany Key Rings and didn’t have a prior criminal history.