COVID data analyst Rebekah Jones says she surrenders



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The Florida data analyst, who claims she was fired because she did not declare a doctor on the coronavirus data, tweeted on Saturday that she was turning into police – although it is not known exactly why.

“To protect my family from continued police violence and to show that I am ready to fight whatever they throw at me, I turn into police in Florida on Sunday night,” Rebekah Jones said in a tweet. “The governor will not win his war on science and free speech. He will not silence those who speak out.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has confirmed he has an active arrest warrant for Jones. Spokeswoman Jessica Cary was unable to provide details of the charges against Jones prior to her registration.

Jones lost his job in May after creating a widely hailed state dashboard to track COVID-19 cases, deaths, tests and other data. She claimed she was fired because she refused to manipulate the data to support the state’s plans to ease lockdown restrictions.

In December, authorities in Florida served a search warrant on her home – in a raid she claims to have notably pointed a gun at her children.

Law enforcement officers execute a search warrant at Rebekah Jones' home in Tallahassee, Fla. On December 7, 2020.
Law enforcement officers execute a search warrant at Rebekah Jones’ home in Tallahassee, Fla. On December 7, 2020.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement / REUTERS

At the time of the raid, authorities said Jones was under investigation for hacking into a government messaging system after sending a strange alert. It is not known if this is the charge with which it will be struck.

“It’s time to speak up before 17,000 more are dead. You know this is wrong. You don’t have to be part of it. Be a hero. Speak before it’s too late, ”said the alert.

Jones insisted in his tweets that law enforcement “found no evidence of a message sent last November. [sic] to DOH staff telling them to “talk” on any device they took ”from her home. She had previously claimed that she had never had access to the alert system.

She said she was surrendering because the raid revealed some documents she received or downloaded.

“It is not known at this stage what exactly they say I had that I should not have had, but an agent confirmed that this had nothing to do with the subject of the warrant,” a- she tweeted, adding that the raid was “based on a lie.

An arrest warrant was issued the day after a judge told police to return his equipment if no crimes were under investigation, Jones said. “They couldn’t find any evidence of anything related to the warrant, so they invented something new to pursue me in retaliation.

She said an officer told her there would be a charge, but if she spoke up, she might see more. “All this just to silence a critic of a governor who did not do his job and who killed thousands.”

“Saying goodbye to my family earlier is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Jones said in the latest tweet she posted.



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