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The teen son of Rebekah Jones, a former Florida health department staffer who claimed she was asked to doctor COVID-19 data, was arrested this week for threatening to shoot up his school, officials said.
The 13-year-old was charged Wednesday with a second-degree felony for allegedly issuing the threats online, according to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Jones made headlines in 2020 for claiming she was fired from her state job as a data analyst after refusing to manipulate COVID-19 numbers for the political benefit of the DeSantis administration.
But a state inspector knocked down the assertions in a report last year, concluding that there was “insufficient” or no evidence to back them up.
Jones, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress as a Democrat against Republican Matt Gaetz, is currently suing to get her job back along with back pay and damages.
She said Thursday that the probe into her son’s activities began after she filed her case last month, suggesting that it was launched in retaliation.
According to police reports, the boy’s classmates at a school in Navarre told cops that he posted threatening messages and ominous memes on social media apps.
![The 13-year-old son of a controversial Florida whistle-blower was arrested this week on charges that he made âterroristâ threats on the internet to shoot up his former school. The son of Rebekah Jones â who lost her job after using her access to health department data to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantisâ COVID numbers early in the pandemic â was arrested Wednesday on charges he made âwritten [or] electronic threatsâ of a âmass shooting [or] terrorist act.â The threats reportedly were made during a series of conversations on Snapchat and Discord, an instant messaging social platform, beginning around Feb. 1. They were brought to the attention of law enforcement authorities by other teens in March.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009345508.jpg)
Another student told investigators that the boy told him he wanted to commit suicide and shoot up the school in the process.
“If I get a gun I’m gonna shoot up hnms lol,” he wrote in one message, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Jones has since said her son is autistic and was spreading “memes” that didn’t warrant his arrest or constitute a legitimate threat. She also claimed some of the messages were sent from a different account he was not responsible for.
The teen has since been placed on home detention with his mother and has a court date next month.
A vocal critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Jones was charged in 2020 with accessing a state messaging system without authorization to post her claims against her employer.
She eventually admitted to guilt in the case and paid $20,000 in a plea deal that settled the matter.
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