Longwood man arrested after allegedly bringing children to the area to panhandle

Staff report

ALACHUA, Fla. – Gilbert Jean, 36, of Longwood, FL, was arrested last night and charged with drug possession, third or subsequent violation of driving without a valid license, and contributing to a delinquency of a minor after a Florida Highway Patrol Trooper allegedly found that he had brought four children to the area to roam the streets, asking for money.

At about 10:41 p.m. on Saturday, a trooper conducted a traffic stop on a van on U.S. Hwy 441 near NW 89th Street, south of the City of Alachua. The trooper reported that he ran the tag and learned that the owner, Jean, had a history of at least 15 previous citations for driving without a valid license; Jean’s license is currently suspended.

The trooper reported that there was a “young child” in the back of the van, and he asked Jean who he had with him; Jean reportedly said the child’s name was “Justin.” When the trooper asked the child to get out of the van, the child reportedly said his name was not “Justin.”

A search of the van, based on the odor of marijuana coming from the interior, reportedly produced about 18 grams of marijuana, a scale, and a THC pen.

The trooper’s investigation revealed that Jean had transported four juveniles from the Orlando area to Alachua County “to use them to request money from citizens under a fraudulent nonprofit organization under the name of ‘Awareness Youth.'”

The children were reportedly located by other troopers in separate locations, and they were all reportedly left unattended to roam the street, asking people for money. The troopers learned that the children kept $4 for every $10 they collected.

Further investigation is pending with FDLE and multi-agency task forces.

Jean has been charged with felony driving without a valid license, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Jean has an extensive court history in Seminole and Orange Counties, mostly traffic violations; he was arrested in Alachua County in September 2023 for driving without a valid license and having an unassigned tag on his vehicle. Although formal charges were filed in October, the charges were dropped two weeks later. At the time of his arrest, court documents state that he had one felony conviction (non-violent) and five misdemeanor convictions (one violent). He had two pending traffic cases in Orlando, and more have been added since that date.

Judge David Kreider set bail at $76,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

  • Grooming kids at an early age to take advantage and mooch off others…the degradation of society continues.

    That being said, it’s really sad what Gainesville has and is becoming.

  • Well well well… how did he learn about our burgeoning panhandle industry up here, from way down in Longwood!? Bonus, he even padded it as benefiting a fake non-profit!
    Make them all town ambassadors, they’re perfect 💩🤡👹🍦🍦🍦D

  • To be clear, this occurred in Alachua, not Gainesville. Regardless, it’s terrible, and happening all over. Really hope and pray for the children to come out of all of this ok, though.

    • Yes it did occur in Alachua. Police need to start checking 441 at interstate, at publix intersection and start running these people back to gainesville.

    • the arrest happened in Alachua(near San Felasco Tech City according to the address listed, the article doesn’t mention what multiple locations the Children were panhandling at.

  • The city & county are doing the same thing inviting panhandlers & vagrants here when they established the Taj Mahal Grace Marketplace ( come one, come all…send us your huddled masses) …close Grace down. Zero tolerance on vagrants! Bus ticket the bums back to where they came from. Arrest trespassers & squatters! We need Trump to close the border & build that wall! The city & county needs to put up a fence to keep the bums out!

  • $76,000 bail huh? That bum is halfway back to Longwood by now.

  • Omg $76k?!? Keep this monster locked up!!! Unbelievable!
    He out these children in serious danger. When are the courts going to put kids first?

    And to the commissioners…….this is what you get when you roll out the red carpet for homeless. Idiots! Yall are as much to blame as this POS is

  • Several years ago I did a little experiment. I went to the area of Newberry Rd and the interstate with a sign that read Any amount for my plight would be appreciated”. I did that interstate area for two days and then the Williston Rd exit for a couple days. Do you know how stupid people are. No conversation about my reason for being there, how I got there, etc. People just threw money at me. Overall I made enough that I could make a minimal living doing it. What people didnt see the small four letter word under my scribble that read for DJT. I gave all that money to DJT campaign in 2015 because that was my plight. Maybe I should do it again. Point is no one will ask or question the person with their hand out about their issues or reasons. How many people get scammed everyday by their own actions.

  • Kids willing to work for 40% of every $10? Sounds like Gainesville should recruit them to teach the homeless some work ethic.

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