TALLAHASSEE -- A former data scientist for the state of Florida who created the state's COVID-19 database before being fired for insubordination has been ordered to stay off state computer systems, after being arrested on charges that she hacked the system to send a message to former coworkers.
A judge granted $2500 bond to Rebekah Jones, and also ordered her not to contact any of the people on a contact list of state workers found on her computer when FDLE agents raided her then home in Tallahassee in December.
Jones has since moved to Maryland and is unemployed.
After she was let go, Jones created her own independent COVID-19 database, claiming the state health department was covering up the numbers of cases,
Jones spoke only briefly at the proceeding, answering yes to the question of whether she had lawyers.
The state claims she got onto the state health department system and sent a message telling employees to "speak out before
another 17,000 are dead." .
Photo: WFLA-TV