Police in Florida on Monday raided the home of a former state scientist who oversaw data on the coronavirus who has accused the government of attempting to downplay the extent of the pandemic in the state.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Monday conducted a search at the home of Rebekah Jones, a former employee of the state Department of Health, as part of an investigation into whether she improperly accessed a government messaging system to call on workers to speak out about the coronavirus. Jones denied the accusation in a statement to CNN, saying she lost access to her government account when she was dismissed last May.
"This is what happens when you challenge powerful and corrupt people," Jones said, adding she believes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind the raid.
"If he thinks this is going to scare me into silence, he's wrong," she said.
Jones uploaded a video of the incident to Twitter with the caption:
"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.
"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."
Rick Swearingen, commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, denied officers pointed weapons "at anyone in the home."
A spokesperson for DeSantis said "the governor's office had no involvement, no knowledge, no nothing, of this investigation."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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