Husband of Federal Judge Accused of Sex Trafficking, Assault at Tampa Hotel

TAMPA, FLORIDA — The husband of a federal judge faces human trafficking charges for soliciting sex with a teen at a Florida hotel before choking her, according to police.

The alleged violent encounter occurred at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza in Tampa around 1:40 am on Friday. A teenage girl accepted Jimmie Gardner’s invitation to meet him at his hotel room for sex in exchange for money, investigators told a judge.

But the young girl told police she changed her mind, infuriating Gardner, who allegedly choked her and cut off her breathing.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING CHARGES

Gardner made his first appearance virtually in a Hillsborough County courtroom Saturday, one day after his arrest. A judge set his bond at $500,000 despite his attorney, Jeff Brown, arguing that Gardner is not a threat to the community.

“He played baseball out of here, he’s well known here, he was down here as a motivational speaker for a seminar,” Brown told the judge.

Also present for the hearing was Gardner’s wife, federal judge Leslie Abrams Gardner of Georgia, who flew to Tampa to support her husband. Judge Abrams Gardner is the sister of Democratic activist and failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

Gardner, 57, faces one felony count of human trafficking for commercial sexual activity with a victim less than 18 years old, one felony count of lewd or lascivious touching of a minor 16 or 17 years old by a person aged 24 years or older and one misdemeanor count of battery.

“Everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence,” State Attorney Suzy Lopez told The Florida Standard. “Our attorneys will prosecute this case as we would any other offender who is alleged to have committed these crimes. We take these charges very seriously.” 

Convicted in 1987 for the sexual assault of two women in West Virginia, Gardner was exonerated 27 years later in 2016. At the time, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin ordered that Gardner be released because his conviction was mainly based on false testimony from disgraced West Virginia State Police serologist Fred Zain.

On his Instagram account – now deleted – Gardner described himself as a “27-year wrongful conviction survivor; social justice advocate; motivational speaker; mentor to at-risk youth” and a “freedom fighter.”