- Florida data scientist Rebekah Jones, who was fired by the Department of Health last year, said on Saturday she would hand her over to authorities on Sunday after issuing a warrant for her arrest last week.
- Jones, who worked on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, was fired in May after she said she refused to change the data related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
- In December, Florida authorities issued a warrant on her property and confiscated computers, telephones and external storage stations after she continued to publish Florida’s COVID-19 data via her own dashboard.
- “Fraudulent charges designed to silence and now put me in jail for being a scientist who criticizes the government,” Jones said. “This is the definition of #censorship in the textbook.”
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Rebekah Jones, the data scientist who said she was fired by the Florida Department of Health in May for refusing to change COVID-19 data, said she turned herself into authorities Sunday after they were last week issued a warrant. for her arrest.
The arrest warrant came about a month after authorities raided Jones’ home in Florida, and it is not clear what crime officials in Florida are planning to charge. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not immediately return a request for comment from Insider on Sunday.
An FDLE spokeswoman told Florida Today the agency will be able to share more information about Jones’ case once she is arrested.
In another tweet, Jones said a law enforcement official told her attorney she would face additional charges if she spoke to the media.
But Jones said Saturday that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement could not connect her with a message sent by the state emergency service, which called on state workers to sound the alarm about Ron DeSantis’ government on the pandemic. The message was the basis of the December warrant executed on December 7th.
Last month, law enforcement officers in Florida seized computers, phones and external storage devices during their raid on her home. After the raid, Jones sued the state for violating civil rights and moved from Florida to Washington, DC, according to Florida’s report.
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“The raid was based on a lie,” Jones said in a statement. tweet Saturday. ‘Yet the state has issued a warrant for my arrest – even though the’ crime ‘is not related to the warrant, the scope of the warrant, and they did not wait for a third party to review confidential information on my computers . “
Last week, a judge in Tallahassee refused to rule on whether state officials should return the property that Jones seized during the raid until officials decided whether they intended to charge her in connection with what happened during the warrant on her property. obtained, as the Tallahassee Democrat. report.
“To protect my family from continued police violence and to show that I am ready to fight for everything they throw at me, I change myself Sunday night in Florida,” Jones said in another tweet. “The governor will not win his war against science and freedom of speech. He will not silence those who speak out.”
In May, Jones, who worked on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, was fired by the Florida Department of Health. Government officials said Jones was fired for “repeated insubordination” and her “blatant disregard for the professionals who worked 24 hours a day to provide the important information for the COVID-19 website.”
Jones, however, said her shooting was the result of her refusal to change COVID-19 data. At the time, Jones said her Florida Department of Health executives had told her to show data as early as January that showed Florida residents tested positive for COVID-19. She also said she did not want to change the data that would show certain provinces meet the criteria to reduce restrictions as they have not yet met such criteria.
After her shooting, Jones continued to upload and release data via her own online dashboard. But in December, Florida authorities obtained the search warrant and raided her home. Jones speculated on Saturday that she believes a condition for her release from prison is the restriction of her access to technology, and that she limits the ability to share information.
“Fraudulent charges designed to silence and now get jail time because I’m a scientist who criticizes the government,” she said. “This is the definition of the textbook #censorship. “