Florida data scientist-turned-whistleblower Rebekah Jones turns herself in on cybercrime charge
Rebekah Jones, the former Florida data analyst who had worked on the state’s COVID-19 dashboard, has been charged with a cybercrime, the Florida Law Enforcement Department announced Monday.
Jones, who was fired last May, turned herself in at the Leon County Detention Facility late Sunday and now faces a felony charge of illegally accessing a computer system, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Daily News.
Officials accused Jones of downloading the names, organizations, titles, home counties, personal phone numbers and emails of nearly 20,000 Floridians in November.
A judge ordered Jones’ bail set at $2,500 during her first court appearance Monday, according to WCTV. Prosecutors were denied pleas to have Jones fitted with an ankle monitor and banned from accessing the internet.
Rebekah Jones says she’ll turn herself in after police issue arrest warrant
“It’s like killing a gnat with an ax,” Jones’ attorney Louis Jean Baptiste said of the request to ban her from the internet.
The Law Enforcement Department previously said it was investigating Jones for allegedly using a state messaging system to warn officials to speak out about the coronavirus spread. She said she sent no such message and claims she was fired for disparaging Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Jones said Saturday she planned to turn herself in “to protect my family from continued police violence, and to show that I’m ready to fight whatever they throw at me.”
“The governor will not win his war on science and free speech. He will not silence those who speak out,” she tweeted.
“A potential condition of my release may be no access to computers, internet or electronic devices. Bogus charges designed to silence and now jail me for being a scientist critical of the government. That’s the textbook definition of censorship.”
Jones has filed a lawsuit against the Law Enforcement Department, accusing agents of depriving her of her First Amendment rights when they raided her house in December, seizing her computers, cell phone and storage media.
