TALLAHASSEE -- Rebekah Jones, the fired former state data analyst who went on to create her own site offering Florida pandemic numbers that disagreed with those released by the state, says she plans to leave the Sunshine State.
This follows the events of December 7th, when FDLE agents and local police armed with a search warrant took a computer from her home. They were investigating a message sent over state emergency channels that appeared to come from her IP address.
Jones says on her blog that "My family is no longer safe living in this state, and I cannot and will not ask them to make sacrifices of that magnitude for the work I am doing."
Jones, who claimed state officials pressured her to align data with Governor DeSantis' wish to reopen the state, was sacked in the spring of 2020. She said her superiors accused her of insubordination. She then went on to create her own COVID data dashboard and received a great deal of attention from mainstream media.
Jones says she will be leaving Florida in January but "will not abandon" the COVID dashboard. Her lawyers recently filed a motion demanding FDLE return her computer.
DeSantis defended FDLE agents' actions, questioning mainstream media's use of the word "raid" to describe the event, in which police waited several minutes as they Jones ignored their requests to come in, releasing bodycam video to back up their explanation.
Photo: FDLE