The head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is defending his officers’ recent raid on the Leon County home of a former Department of Health official who filed a lawsuit alleging the search violated her constitutional rights.
The Dec. 20 lawsuit was filed on behalf of Rebekah Jones, the former state employee described in the complaint as a whistleblower who was fired for refusing to falsify Florida COVID-19 data. The complaint names as defendants Rick Swearingen, the FDLE commissioner; Noel Pratts, an FDLE agent; and an unnamed agent of the department.
“As I have said before, I am proud of the professionalism shown by our FDLE agents as they served a legal search warrant on the residence of Rebekah Jones,” Swearingen said in a statement emailed to the Florida Record. “Our criminal investigation continues, and I believe the facts will come out in court.”
The FDLE conducted the search in conjunction with an investigation of whether Jones had engaged in criminal hacking of a Department of Health account and posting the message, “It's time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know, this is wrong. You don't have to be part of this. Be a hero. Speak out before it's too late. – From StateESF8.Planning.”
Authorities traced the internet protocol (IP) address of the hacker to Jones, but Jones’ lawsuit contends that an IP address is not specific enough to justify a search warrant.
Jones’ lawsuit seeks damages of more than $30,000 and alleges that a law enforcement officer “committed battery on plaintiff by repeatedly running his hands up and down her ribs and by gripping and holding her sides.” Agents also brandished their weapons toward her children, according to the complaint.
But in comments recorded by The Florida Channel, Swearingen accused Jones of making false statements about the morning raid and not opening the door for agents for 23 minutes – during which a hard drive could have been wiped.
“We had been trying to knock politely on her door and ring her doorbell and called numerous times to handle this in a manner that was respectful of the fact that there were children there,” Swearingen said.
The officers involved in the search were also concerned that Jones could have engaged in efforts to resist the agents’ efforts to execute their search warrant. She had been terminated from a job at Louisiana State University, refused to leave her office and was later arrested for trespassing and battery on an officer, he said.
Jones has spoken to media outlets about what she sees as the failures of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in managing efforts to control the coronavirus and efforts to conceal relevant information. The lawsuit claims the raid was retaliation for her speaking out about public health issues in the state.