CNN
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The 13-year-old son of Rebekah Jones, who claimed she was fired for refusing to control state Covid-19 information whereas working in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ state Well being Division, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly threatening a taking pictures at a center college.
The boy, whom CNN will not be naming as a result of he’s a minor, was charged with written or digital threats to kill, do bodily harm, or conduct a mass taking pictures or an act of terrorism, a second-degree felony, based on a warrant issued by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Workplace.
In safety digital camera video on the sheriff’s workplace, obtained by CNN, Jones could be seen accompanying the boy to the sheriff’s workplace on Wednesday afternoon, the place he surrendered.
Thursday night, Jones, who has a large on-line following, tweeted, “My son is dwelling with me now and sleeping.”
She prompt, with out proof, that her son’s arrest was associated to a lawsuit she filed on March 13 in Leon County, Florida, towards the Florida Division of Well being and a former supervisor, below the state whistleblower act, in search of to get her job again, misplaced wages and damages for her therapy as an worker.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis referred questions in regards to the arrest “to the diligent legislation enforcement of Santa Rosa Sheriff’s workplace.”
Jones famous in a tweet that the sheriff’s workplace started investigating her son shortly after she filed the lawsuit. She claimed on Twitter that her son had despatched “simply memes” to his pals that she says weren’t threatening.
However, based on police studies, a number of college students at a Navarre, Florida, center college instructed police that Jones’ son had instructed individuals he deliberate a faculty taking pictures and posted threatening memes and messages on Snapchat and Discord. One scholar instructed police that the boy instructed her on Discord he wished to finish his life and shoot up the varsity.
After issuing a search warrant, officers stated they discovered messages in February from the boy’s Snapchat account referencing weapons and the Columbine Excessive Faculty bloodbath and plans to shoot and stab individuals on the college.
Throughout an interview with police on March 23, the boy instructed police he didn’t intend to hold out the taking pictures and police didn’t discover any weapons at his dwelling. Jones instructed police the boy not attended the varsity and was being dwelling schooled, based on police paperwork.
CNN has reached out to the sheriff’s workplace for added data on the case.
Jones in 2020 accused the DeSantis administration of attempting to cowl up the extent of the pandemic and firing her for refusing to falsify numbers to attenuate the size of the outbreak. Final yr, a state inspector common report stated her claims had been “unsubstantiated” and Covid-19 information was not falsified.
Jones publicly shared the story of her dismissal earlier than leaving the division in Might 2020 and have become a outstanding on-line critic of DeSantis. She unsuccessfully ran for Congress final yr towards Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.
In December 2020, state police executed a search warrant at Jones’ dwelling whereas investigating whether or not she accessed a state messaging system with out authorization to name for state officers to talk out about Covid-19 deaths. She was finally charged with one depend of offenses towards customers of computer systems, pc techniques, pc networks and digital units. In December, Jones agreed to confess guilt and pay a $20,000 payment in a pretrial deferred prosecution settlement.
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