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Rebekah Jones, a former Florida Department of Health data scientist who says she was wrongly fired last year, has been charged with one count of offenses against users of computers, computer systems , computer networks and electronic devices, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Driving the news: Jones turned around on Sunday night after an arrest warrant was issued for her arrest. Authorities raided her home last month, sparking an outcry online after she tweeted video of the incident.
- At the time, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) told local media that it opened an investigation on Nov. 10 “after receiving a complaint from the Department of Health regarding the unauthorized access. authorized to a Department of Health messaging system that is part of an emergency alert system, to be used only in an emergency. “
Catch up quickly: Jones was sacked last year for saying she refused to “manipulate data” for the state, according to the Tallahassee diplomat.
- The Florida Department of Health called Jones’ initial claims of data manipulation “patently false.”
- A spokesman for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (right) told the Miami Herald in May 2020 that Jones was dismissed from his post for “a repeated course of insubordination,” which included changing the COVID dashboard -19 of the department.
- Jones then created his own coronavirus case tracker as an alternative to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.
What they say: “The raid was based on a lie. Yet the state issued an arrest warrant – even though the “crime” is unrelated to the warrant, to the scope of the warrant, and they did not wait for a third party to review the confidential information about my. computers “, Jones tweeted Saturday.
- “The new allegation was made the day after a Tallahassee judge told police that if they were not investigating a crime they had to return my equipment. They could not find evidence of anything. it’s linked to the mandate, so they invented something new to come and get me in retaliation, ”she added.
- “To protect my family from continued police violence and to show that I’m ready to fight whatever they throw at me, I’m turning into police in Florida on Sunday night. The governor won’t win his war on science and freedom of speech. It will not silence those who speak out. “
- Upon her release after posting bail on Monday, she told reporters she had just tested positive for COVID-19, according to CNN.
The FDLE did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment, but in a statement to the WSJ officials said: “Evidence from a search warrant on December 7 shows Jones illegally accessed the system by sending message to around 1,750 people and downloaded FDOH confidential data and saved it on its devices. “
For memory: Jones has denied sending the message or illegally accessing a restricted site, the WSJ noted.
The big picture: DeSantis has been criticized for its handling of the pandemic.
- A South Florida Sun Sentinel investigation, released in early December, reported that “the DeSantis administration has engaged in a hacking and cover-up scheme that has misled the public about the most serious health threat the ‘State has never met “.
Go further: Florida Police Raid Home of Scientist Who Challenged State Over COVID-19 Data
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