By Amanda Ottaway

Law360 (December 23, 2020, 5:49 PM EST) -- A former state worker who said she was fired and targeted in a "bogus" police raid after refusing to falsify data about COVID-19 infections in Florida has filed a lawsuit accusing Sunshine State law enforcement officials of violating her constitutional rights.

Geographer and data tracker Rebekah Jones' state court suit filed Sunday alleged the Florida Department of Law Enforcement violated her rights under state law and the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution when officers demanded entry to her home and took her electronics on Dec. 7.

Officers reportedly pointed guns at her and her family and confiscated her cell phone, computers and other data storage equipment like hard drives. The raid came after she was booted from her data management job at the Florida Department of Health earlier this year and then filed a whistleblower complaint in response, Jones said.

"The basis of the warrant was a sham to punish plaintiff for her protected speech," the lawsuit said. "Her termination from the Florida Department of Health after refusing to falsify data generated a great deal of media coverage, much to the dismay of the state."

Jones created her own COVID-19 tracking dashboard after the state fired her in May.

The warrant allegedly came in response to a note posted in a Department of Health message board. Jones denies writing or sending it, but law enforcement said it traced the message to Jones' IP address, the suit said.

The message reportedly said, "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," according to the suit.

Jones maintained in the lawsuit that the investigator failed to consider that her IP address could have been spoofed by a hacker, that the password to the group was not hard to find online, that she had already shared similar sentiments publicly in national media and that whoever did send the message committed no crime.

Jones' firing made national news and it's "widely believed" Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis had something to do with it, her lawsuit said. DeSantis is an ally of outgoing President Donald Trump and has faced criticism over his handling of the virus.

An investigation by the Florida Sun-Sentinel published Dec. 3 revealed "concealment, manipulation, falsification and delay in reporting COVID-19 data under the DeSantis regime," Jones' lawsuit said.

Jones captured video of the officers entering her home, and one officer outside wore a body camera, her lawsuit said. The video shows one officer pointing his gun up the stairs after the officers told Jones to call down her husband and two children, ages 11 and 2, according to the suit.

"They took evidence of corruption at the state level. They claimed it was about a security breach. This was DeSantis. He sent the Gestapo. This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly," Jones tweeted the day of the raid.

Rick Johnson of the Law Office of Richard E. Johnson, one of Jones' attorneys, said in an email Wednesday that they're planning to file a motion to force the state to give back the electronics. He also said he expects a determination soon on the status of her whistleblower complaint.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen, who is a defendant in the suit, said in a statement shared Wednesday that the department's criminal investigation is ongoing.

"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," he said.

Larry Walters of the Walters Law Group, another of Jones' attorneys, said in a statement they believe the raid was "retaliatory."

"What happened to our client should never happen to anyone in a free country," he said. "Rebekah is entitled to speak her mind and assert her rights under Florida's whistleblower statute without fear of government agents bursting their way into her home with guns drawn to seize her communication devices."

Jones is represented by Richard E. Johnson of the Law Office of Richard E. Johnson, Lawrence G. Walters of the Walters Law Group and by Lisa C. Lambert of the Law Office of Lisa C. Lambert.

It was not immediately clear who would represent the defendants.

The case is Jones v. Swearingen et al., case number 2020CA002349, in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, in and for Leon County, Florida.

--Editing by Leah Bennett.

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