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A longtime JROTC instructor at Chamberlain High School was among scores of suspects arrested in a recent child predator sting conducted by Hillsborough sheriff’s detectives

Robert Eric Hess, 57, was arrested Oct. 1 after he arranged to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl for sex, Hillsborough Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a news conference Thursday. “Fortunately, he met our undercover detective and this incredible team, and he was placed under arrest,” Chronister said. The sheriff said Hess was a social sciences teacher at Chamberlain, but a Hillsborough schools spokesperson said that was incorrect and that Hess worked only as a JROTC instructor. Hess was fired on Oct. 3, the spokesperson said.

Chronister highlighted Hess among the 171 suspects arrested during the recent undercover operation. Detectives in the agency’s human trafficking section posing online as children or traffickers offering up children for paid sex, arranged meetings and then arrested suspects who showed up. Chronister said six trafficking victims were recovered during the operation and offered assistance.

In Hess’ case, he is accused of answering a fictitious online advertisement on an adult escort site, according to an arrest affidavit. A detective posing as a trafficker told Hess through a FaceTime call and in a text message exchange that her 15-year-old niece was available for sex. Hess agreed to pay $140 for a half-hour of sex with the girl, the affidavit states. Hess arrived in his Honda sedan at the prearranged location and was arrested. He had $140 in cash on him, and his phone rang when detectives called the number they’d corresponded with to arrange the meeting, according to the affidavit. Hess was booked into Hillsborough County’s Orient Road Jail on charges of solicitation to commit human trafficking with a minor victim, use of computer devices or services to solicit illegal acts, traveling to meet a minor after using computer services to solicit illegal acts and attempted lewd and lascivious battery. He was released after posting a $50,000 bond, and his attorney has since entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, records show. The attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Hess joined the school district in 2008 and was a JROTC instructor at Chamberlain High during his entire tenure, district spokesperson Tanya Arja said. He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who goes by the nickname “Gunny,” according to a feature story by WFTS-TV Ch. 28 that aired in 2024.*

The Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a federal character building program sponsored by the U.S. Armed Forces in high schools and some middle schools.

*https://www.tampabay28.com/news/anchors-report/former-tampa-bay-student-and-teacher-share-bond-that-lasts-16-years

https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2025/10/30/hillsborough-chamberlain-high-undercover-sex-sting-teacher-arrest/