Fired FHP trooper charged with soliciting teen

Arrested: James E. Gilbert (ORANGE COUNTY JAIL / April 18, 2009)

A state trooper accused of having sexual communications with the teenage daughter of another FHP employee has been fired and charged with soliciting sex from a minor.

And now an internal probe by the Orange County Sheriff's Office has targeted the trooper's ex-wife after she was accused of trying to intimidate the teen's mother.

James E. Gilbert was a trooper for more than 15 years when he was arrested Dec. 4 on 10 counts of solicitation of a minor via a computer. The Florida Highway Patrol terminated him the next day.

Gilbert is accused of having sexual conversations and text messages with a 17-year-old. An FHP investigative report said Gilbert, who was a corporal, sent the girl more than 600 text messages during a one-month period last year.

In a written statement filed in Orange County 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, 45, responded by saying things like, "Nothing illegal about this; we're doing nothing wrong." And, "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."

Gilbert would not comment Thursday. When questioned in November by an investigator, Gilbert also chose not to make a statement, an FHP report said.

He is free on bond and is slated to go to trial in August.

Meanwhile, the teen's mother said their stress about the situation intensified when Gilbert's ex-wife, Orange County Deputy Alberta Gilbert, tried to intimidate her at work last month.

The mother runs a business at a Florida's Turnpike service plaza. She said Alberta Gilbert came to the plaza, walked past her business and mouthed a curse word. She said Gilbert's wife then sat at a table near her business for more than an hour. She said the deputy rubbed her gun and stared at her.

"I was scared that she was going to do something," the woman said.

The mother said she gave the Orange County Sheriff's Office a surveillance video from inside the plaza. The Sheriff's Office confirmed Gilbert is being investigated internally, but an agency spokesman couldn't comment or confirm the allegations because the case is open. An attempt to reach Alberta Gilbert was unsuccessful.

A temporary injunction was filed against James Gilbert in September — before he was charged criminally — because the teen is afraid of him and his persistent sexual advances.

"It's very stressful. It's very upsetting," the teen's mother said Thursday. "I'm constantly outside checking around. We worry about revenge or retaliation."

The Orlando Sentinel is not publishing the mother's name because it would identify her daughter.

Amy L. Edwards can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 407-420-5735.