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By Beth Stibal |

Former COVID dashboard scientist, Rebekah Jones, bonds out of jail in Tallahassee

Rebekah Jones, who was fired in May for allegedly encouraging DOH staff to ‘speak out’ about handling of COVID data, turned herself in on an arrest warrant.
Jones, a scientist who has says she lost her job with Florida after refusing to manipulate coronavirus numbers, turned herself in on a charge of “offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices.”

“Saying goodbye to my family just now is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Jones wrote to her 360,000 Twitter followers.

Jones potentially could be banned from the internet indefinitely for allegedly hacking into the states COVID dashboard.

A spokesperson for FDLE sent Spectrum News the following statement:

“There is an active arrest warrant for Ms. Jones. FDLE agents have been working with her attorney to have her turn herself in. Our case remains active. Once she turns herself in, we’ll be able to provide additional information.”

Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents raided Jones’s home on December 7. They had a search warrant stemming from an investigation of an anonymous message sent through the Florida Health Department’s system, encouraging people to speak out against the way COVID data was being handled by the state.

Jones’s Twitter thread continues, “FDLE found no evidence of a message sent last Nov. to DOH staff telling them to ‘speak out’ on any of the devices they took – the entire basis for the raid on my home in Dec. The warrant was based on a lie. We argued this in court just last week. This should be victory.”

She said, as a condition of her release, she may be banned from “access to computers, internet or electronic devices.” Jones referred to the charges against her as “bogus” and claimed they’re “designed to silence and now jail me for being a scientist critical of the government. That’s the textbook definition of censorship.”