Rebekah Jones: Dismisses Florida scientist in Florida gives her to authorities

Rebekah Jones: Dismisses Florida scientist in Florida gives her to authorities

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Rebekah Jones has been charged with a number of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices, the FDLE said. She surrendered her Sunday to the Leon County detention facility.

In a series of tweets, Jones announced her intention to surrender to the authorities.

“To protect my family from continued police violence and to show that I am ready to fight for everything they throw at me, I changed myself Sunday night in Florida,” Jones tweeted.

“The governor will not win his war against science and freedom of speech. He will not silence those who speak out.”

Jones was fired from the Florida Department of Health in May and has repeatedly criticized Governor Ron DeSantis’ handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

The FDLE said it was investigating whether Jones had gained access to a state messaging system without authorization to call in government officials to talk about Covid-19 deaths.
'Politics before life': DeSantis criticized by Covid-19 reaction in Florida

“It’s time to speak out before another 17,000 people are killed,” reads a message sent on November 10, according to the statement. “You know it’s wrong. You do not have to participate in this. Be a hero. Speak before it’s too late. ‘

Officials traced the message to an IP address linked to Jones’ home, according to a warrant statement.

On December 7, Jones’ home was raided. Jones filed a lawsuit alleging that FDLE officials violated her rights for first amendment, deprived her of the proper process and illegally confiscated her computers, cell phones and storage media during a search of her home.

In the case, it is said that IP addresses are usually “fraudulent”, referring to news articles that found that the username and password for the system of the message that caused the investigation were available on the website of the Department of Health.

Governor faces increasing scrutiny

The investigation into Jones comes as DeSantis is increasingly under investigation over its handling of the pandemic.

In April, the governor falsely claimed that Covid-19 had not killed anyone under the age of 25.
Despite multiple upheavals of Covid-19 in the state, DeSantis has refused to allow municipalities to remove their own mask mandates or stricter social laws. The restriction of local government has been criticized by both mayors.
An investigation by the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida found that DeSantis’ government was working to curb bad news about the pandemic and spread false information.
Some health department spokesmen were told in September to make statements only after the November election, and officials withheld important information about the spread of the virus, the newspaper reported.

Jones, who helped build the state’s coronavirus dashboard, has become one of the governor’s harshest critics, publicly claiming that DeSantis is to blame for the rising death toll.

In May, state officials said Jones was terminated because she displayed a repeated course of disobedience and changed a state data portal without input or approval from epidemiologists or her supervisors.
But Jones said she was fired after refusing to falsify the state’s Covid-19 data.
Jones lodged a complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations in July.

After her shooting, Jones published her own dashboard of Covid-19 stats. She said she had received internal records from people who worked for the state, including evidence that government officials “in January (2020) are lying about things like internal reports and notices from the CDC.”

The evidence was about “a bunch of flash drives” that officers took when they raided her home, Jones said. She said she also had documents that were legally accessible from when she was a government employee.

Legal experts said the material could theoretically be used to target Jones’ sources if it violated rules on the sharing of internal information.

The investigative order enabled officers to recover “all computer equipment” that stores or transmits data, including hard drives, devices, software and correspondence, with respect to the possession, receipt, origin or distribution of data that misrepresents computer crime. . ”

Lawyers in Florida have said that state employees who leaked internal records to Jones could face disciplinary action or possibly legal problems – although they may be protected under whistleblower laws.

CNN’s Curt Devine contributed to this report.

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