Florida police raid COVID-19 data scientist's house.

Florida law enforcement agents raided the home of Rebekah Jones, a former state data scientist who built Florida's official COVID-19 database.

Florida law enforcement agents raided the home of Rebekah Jones, a former state data scientist who built Florida's official COVID-19 database.Jones, who had lost her job in May 2020, had claimed that she lost her job after refusing to manipulate COVID-19 data to ease Florida's COVID-19 restrictions. In contrast, Ron DeSantis (a spokesperson for Florida Government) mentioned that she was fired due to repeated insubordination during her time with the department.

On Dec. 7, 2020, Florida's law enforcement agents carried a search warrant against her regarding an investigation into an unauthorized message sent on a state communications system. Via Twitter, Jones shared a series of videos of the raid and mentioned that the officers were armed and seized her phone and laptops. She alleged that the armed officers placed a gun on her and her children.

According to the law enforcement department, the raid was a part of the investigation over the state's emergency health alert system's hacking. In a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)'s statement, Rick Swearingen, FDLE Commissioner, said the investigation revealed that an unauthorized message was sent from Jones's residence. So, a search warrant had been issued. He dismissed her allegation of guns being pointed out at anyone during the raid and said agents entered the home following standard protocols.