TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WMBB) — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement raided the home of a former state employee who has been critical of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and has provided alternate numbers to the public about infections.

Rebekah Jones said on Twitter that the raid happened at about 8:30 a.m. Monday and she claimed the agents pointed a gun at her and her children. In May of this year, Jones left her job at Florida’s Department of Health after claiming that state authorities wanted her to change COVID case data to support DeSantis’s call to reopen the state.

In a statement to the media officials from the FDLE Office of Public Information said the raid was part of an active investigation stemming from unauthorized access to the Department of Health’s messaging system.

Our investigation began last month following a complaint by Florida Department of Health that a person illegally hacked into their emergency alert system.  As part of our investigation, FDLE agents served a search warrant this morning at the Centerville Court residence where Ms. Jones lives after determining the home was the location that the unauthorized message was sent from.’

Agents knocked and called Ms. Jones both announcing the search warrant and encouraging her to cooperate.  Ms. Jones refused to come to the door for 20 minutes and hung-up on agents. 

After several attempts, Ms. Jones allowed agents inside.  Agents entered the home in accordance with normal protocols and seized several devices that will be forensically analyzed.   At no time were weapons pointed at anyone in the home.  Any evidence will be referred to the State Attorney for prosecution as appropriate.

Rick Swearingen, FDLE Office of Public Information

In several more tweets, Jones accused the DeSantis administration of sending the “gestapo” after her, the News Service of Florida reported.

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