Jimmie Gardner, the brother-in-law of two-time failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, was arrested on human trafficking and battery charges for allegedly attacking a 16-year-old girl after she refused sex.
The harrowing account was reported by Fox 13 in Tampa Bay after the minor claimed that she initially accepted an offer for money in exchange for sex.
That’s when, according to police, things took a violent turn.
“The victim initially agreed but later told Gardner that she no longer wanted to engage and he became angry,” police said.
“Gardner advised the victim that she needed to leave his hotel room,” they added. “The two got involved in a verbal altercation that escalated to a physical dispute after Gardner placed his hands around the victim’s neck, impeding her breathing.”
“Jimmie Gardner, a youth motivational speaker and brother-in-law of former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, is facing serious charges of human trafficking and is currently in jail in Hillsborough County with no bond,” a statement by the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit reads.
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Abrams’ Brother-in-Law Arrested For Assaulting A Minor
It appears that he tried to use his motivational skills to coerce an underage girl into prostitution, if these reports are to be believed.
He is a motivational speaker and “emotional intelligence” expert working with prisoners. You can’t make this stuff up! https://t.co/tgbHXiOrE2
— Ellen Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) November 18, 2023
Tampa Police charged Gardner with “human trafficking, lewd and lascivious touching of certain minors, and battery.”
State Attorney Suzy Lopez reminded the public that everyone has a “presumption of innocence,” though her office indicates that Abrams’ brother-in-law spent 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women in West Virginia in 1987, but was later exonerated.
Two years after his release, he married Georgia Federal Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, who was appointed her role by President Barack Obama in 2014.
She was considered a choice for Supreme Court by President Joe Biden.
Abrams’ Failed Bids to Become Georgia Governor
She very famously and publicly refused to concede defeat in 2018 despite receiving nearly 55,000 fewer votes. In 2019, Abrams told supporters at a luncheon in Houston that she wasn’t “delusional” mere moments after declaring “we won” the Georgia gubernatorial race.
In 2022, however, Abrams issued a rare concession speech after losing her rematch with Republican Governor Brian Kemp. In her speech, she vowed that there “is always another chapter.”
During her 2022 campaign, over 100 Georgia sheriffs blasted Abrams for her role in advancing the Defund the Police movement and supporting soft-on-crime policies that put families at risk.
Gardner is currently at Orient Road Jail in Tampa.
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