Last Wednesday, the Santa Rosa Florida County Sheriff’s Office reported that the 13-year-old son of former Democratic congressional candidate and health department worker, Rebekah Jones, was charged with a second-degree felony for allegedly posting online threats to shoot school students.
In 2020 Jones claimed she was fired from her job as a health department analyst for reportedly “refusing to manipulate COVID-19 numbers for the political benefit of the DeSantis administration,” according to a report in the New York Post.
After a thorough review, state inspectors dismissed Jones’ claims, noting there was no evidence or “insufficient” evidence to support her charges.
In 2020, authorities charged Jones, a fierce critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis, with accessing without authorization a state messaging system to post unsubstantiated claims. Jones admitted her guilt and paid $20,000 in a plea deal to settle the matter.
However, Jones has an open suit against the state to force reinstatement to her job and receive back pay and damages.
In 2022, Jones ran for a seat in Congress, losing to Matt Gaetz (R) by more than 35.5 points.
Last Thursday, Jones claimed that the probe into her son’s activities was politically motivated and suggested it was a form of retaliation because of her open suit against the state.
Police report they initiated an investigation after students at a middle school in Navarra reported seeing threatening messages and memes.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office reported that several classmates reported messages, and at least one student claimed Jones’ son “wanted to commit suicide and shoot up the school in the process.”
The Pensacola News Journal reposted one of the messages: “If I get a gun I’m gonna shoot up hnms lol.”
After the Pensacola News Journal article, Jones reported that her son is autistic and claimed his spreading “memes” did not constitute a legitimate threat. She also asserted that some of the messages in question were sent from an account not belonging to her son.
Claiming her family was the victim of a conspiracy, Jones posted: “Then they shared a screenshot of a meme they said my son sent, saying this was a video of him threatening to shoot up a building. It’s a video and lyrics from Lil Darkie.”
The Post reported the 13-year-old “has since been placed on home detention with his mother and has a court date next month.”
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