Former Florida Department of Health (DOH) data scientist Rebekah Jones, who was fired by Governor Ron DeSantis’s administration after refusing to manipulate coronavirus information, says “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.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement issued a statement confirming the seizure of computer equipment, a report in the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper says.
“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 spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.
Jones, who set up her own site to continue to report important coronavirus information, posted this tweet, including video:
“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,” she tweeted. “They took evidence of corruption at the state level. They claimed it was about a security breach. This was DeSantis. He sent the gestapo.”
“Gestapo” has been trending as a result. Take a look at what some are saying: