Rebekah Jones, the Florida Department of Health data analyst-turned-whistleblower who in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic accused Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration of manipulating data on the disease, reached an agreement with state prosecutors to dismiss criminal hacking charges under the condition that she admits she was guilty.
Jones had been facing a third-degree felony charge of an offense against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices, and the agreement in the case was reached in an agreement signed last week, The Miami Herald reported.
According to the court document, further prosecution against Jones is being deferred for two years and is conditioned on her meeting several terms, including seeing a licensed mental-health professional chosen by the state, admitting her guilt, performing 150 hours of community service at a minimum rate of 13 hours a week, and holding a job.
If she violates the conditions, the state's attorney will have the right to either revoke or modify the conditions of the deferred prosecution.
Jones was charged after police searched her home in December 2020, discovering that her electronic records suggested she sent out a message to 1,750 people and saved downloaded confidential data to her electronic devices, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Jones first made her accusations against the governor's administration in May 2020 when she said her responsibilities in the agency of overseeing the state's COVID-19 dashboard were removed after she raised concerns about the lack of transparency.
The state also suspected Jones of having gained unauthorized access to an employee messaging board by using her old log-in credentials to send a group message to urge her former employees to "be a hero" and "speak up" against COVID-19 in a message sent on Nov. 10, 2020, which she denied.
A month later, agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided Jones' home in Tallahassee with a search warrant and were seen in a recording captured by a camera on a bookshelf. She claimed that the police pointed guns at her and her children, but the agency denied pointing guns at anyone and released 30 minutes of police body-camera footage.
The arrest warrant against Jones was issued in January 2021, and last week, she announced on her Substack account that the state attorney had dismissed the charges against her, contingent on her plea and a $20,000 payment to the police for investigative costs.
Jones further complained on the post that the state's justice system had "unchecked power to intimidate people into silence and compliance."
She also attacked DeSantis, calling his supporters "thugs" and accused him of attacking freedom, speech, and science.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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