Fired analyst Rebekah Jones asks court to order Florida to return computer gear
Lawyers argue the state is accusing her of doing something that isnât a crime.
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Rebekah Jones in her former office at the Florida Department of Health. [ Photo courtesy of Rebekah Jones ]
Published Dec. 24, 2020
TALLAHASSEE â Lawyers for ousted state data analyst Rebekah Jones on Wednesday asked the court to order state police to return the computer equipment seized from her home, arguing that the state is accusing her of doing something that isnât a crime.
Richard E. Johnson, the Tallahassee attorney representing Jones, filed the motion in Leon County Circuit Court and attached an affidavit from a data expert who concluded that the evidence used by state police does not conclusively link Jones to the message she is alleged to have sent and, instead, âseems potentially consistent with (Jonesâ) assertion that the raid was retaliatory.â
Florida whistleblower alleges ‘fixed’ contracts, big payouts at state-run insurer Lawrence Mower, Tampa Bay Times
TALLAHASSEE A longtime employee for Florida’s state-run insurance carrier has accused board members of steering contracts to particular vendors and choosing whom the insurer hired.
In a whistleblower complaint filed last year, the employee claimed that contracts were “fixed” by Citizens Property Insurance board members, who are appointed by elected officials, and that the insurer was awarding unusually large payouts and raises to top-level employees.
“State laws may have been violated,” the person wrote, according to court filings.
Specific details on the whistleblower and the person’s allegations, which were denied by Citizens, are not known. The person was denied whistleblower status by Citizens’ inspector general Mark Kagy last year and has sued Kagy to overturn his decision. Whistleblowers have special confidentiality and priv
Rebekah Jones sues Florida state police over raid on home
The complaint filed in Leon County Circuit Court alleges that state police violated her constitutional rights of free speech and due process.
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Updated Dec. 21, 2020
TALLAHASSEE â Former state data analyst Rebekah Jones continued her aggressive defense against the allegations lodged against her by the DeSantis administration and late Sunday filed a complaint in Leon County Circuit Court alleging that state police who raided her home on Dec. 7 violated her
constitutional rights of free speech and due process.
Jones, who has appeared on numerous cable news shows defending herself, alleges in the new complaint
Rebekah Jones, 30, has sued the state of Florida after police raided her home
On December 7, agents from Florida Department of Law Enforcement carried out a search warrant on her home, while she, her husband their children were inside
Cops took her phone and laptop as part of cyber crimes investigation, but she believes they were trying to see whose been giving her information
Jones was a state health department data scientist until she was fired in May
She was credited with leading a team that created Florida s COVID dashboard
She claimed she was fired because she refused to manipulate COVID data