Armed State Agents Raid FL Home, Seize Computers of Covid Researcher Fired by Gov. Ron DeSantis: ‘He Sent the Gestapo’
Armed state agents, with guns drawn, raided the home the Florida’s former Covid-19 dashboard chief analyst, Rebekah Jones, on Monday morning. Jones, who now maintains an independent version of the tracker, had been fired by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this year when she publicly criticized the state’s transparency and official numbers about the coronavirus pandemic.
In a series of tweets posted on Monday afternoon, Jones gave a brief account of the raid, including a short video that showed her answering the door and several armed law enforcement agents then entering her home, where her husband and young children were present, and aggressively calling for her husband to come down a staircase as one officer pointed his weapon up the staircase.
“At 8:30 am this morning, state police came into my house and took all my hardware and tech,” Jones wrote. “They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH filed a complaint. They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids.”
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There will be no update today.At 8:30 am this morning, state police came into my house and took all my hardware and tech.
They were serving a warrant on my computer after DOH filed a complaint.
They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids.. pic.twitter.com/DE2QfOmtPU
— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020
She subsequently said the police seized her phone and “evidence of corruption at the state level.”
“They claimed it was about a security breach,” she added, before linking the Florida governor to the raid and likening it to Nazi oppression. “This was DeSantis. He sent the gestapo.”
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They took my phone and the computer I use every day to post the case numbers in Florida, and school cases for the entire country.
They took evidence of corruption at the state level.
They claimed it was about a security breach.
This was DeSantis.
He sent the gestapo.
— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020
This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly.
This is what happens to people who speak truth to power.
I tell them my husband and my two children are upstairs… and THEN one of them draws his gun.
On my children.
This is Desantis’ Florida.
— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said the raid on Jones’ home was part of an active investigation. But the state public official did not address why the agents had their weapons out as if preparing to confront a violent response over a case involving alleged improper computer access.
“FDLE began an investigation November 10, 2020 after receiving a complaint from the Department of Health regarding unauthorized access to a Department of Health messaging system which is part of an emergency alert system, to be used for emergencies only,” FDLE spokesperson Gretl Plessinger told the Democrat. “As in all cases, our role is to determine the facts of what happened and a State Attorney determines whether or not charges are filed.”
