Rebekah Jones' teen son pleads no contest to threatening Navarre school shooting, stabbing
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The 13-year-old son of fired state of Florida employee and former Congressional candidate Rebekah Jones appeared in court Friday where he pleaded no contest to threatening to shoot up Holley Navarre Middle School.
The prosecutor on her son's case confirmed to the News Journal that the Office of the State Attorney charged the boy, who will be called J.J., under Florida Statute 836.10, a statute outlawing written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
The News Journal is not naming Rebekah Jones' son since he has not been charged as an adult and remains in juvenile court, but is including his relationship to his mother because Jones has been vocal about her son's case.
The statute says it is "unlawful for any person to send, post, or transmit, or procure the sending, posting, or transmission of, a writing or other record, including an electronic record, in any manner in which it may be viewed by another person, when in such writing or record the person makes a threat to" kill or do bodily harm or conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism.
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After J.J. opted out of a jury trial by pleading no contest to the charge, both the prosecutor and defense attorney said they plan to reach an agreement that would include probation for a yet-to-be-determined amount of time. They also said the judge would withhold adjudication of guilt.
The judge presiding over the case ordered J.J. to undergo a comprehensive evaluation by a court-appointed psychiatrist before all parties reconvene to determine the teen's sentence.
During the hearing, Jones said her son is currently seeing a psychiatrist and is planning for J.J. to meet with a psychologist weekly.
Why is Rebekah Jones' son charged with threatening a school shooting?
An incident report released in April by the Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office alleges that the 13-year-old made repeated threats to shoot up Holley Navarre Middle School and to stab students who angered him. J.J. had recently been withdrawn from the school and was being homeschooled.
Investigators interviewed multiple students who spoke with the teenager, as well as those who saw messages he posted on social media. In the messages to his friends, the teenager made the following statements, among others:
“I want to shoot up the school.”
"If I get a gun I’m gonna shoot up hnms lol.”
“I’m getting a wrath and natural selection shirt so maybe but I don’t think many ppl know what the columbine shooters look like.”
“Okay so it’s been like 3-4 weeks since I got on my new antidepressants and they aren’t working but they’re suppose to by now so I have no hope in getting better so why not kill the losers at school.”
"Does your plug have access to guns?"
"I always keep a knife on me so maybe I'll just stab people idk"
The teenager, who was homeschooled at the time of the alleged threats, told one of his friends that he planned to shoot up the school the Thursday before Spring Break but there were too many things going on so he postponed it until March 31.
The students reported the claims to the school prior to that date and the investigation was launched.
Rebekah Jones claimed Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered her son be arrested
Jones took to Twitter after her son's arrest in April and claimed Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered J.J. be arrested after she filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the state Health Department and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo asking for her job back along with back pay.
"My family is not safe," Rebekah Jones tweeted. "My son has been taken on the gov's orders, and I've had to send my husband and daughter out of state for their safety. THIS is the reality of living in DeSantis' Florida. There is no freedom here. Only retaliatory rule by a fascist who wishes to be king."
When Jones asked the officers who ordered the arrest, she says an officer told her “it was the state.”
Who is Rebekah Jones?
Jones is a former Florida data scientist who accused the Health Department of intentionally falsifying pandemic data on behalf of DeSantis. The claims were rejected as unfounded by an inspector general's report.
Jones came to national prominence during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic after she was fired from her position with the Florida Department of Health. Jones said she was fired for speaking out about what she said was the state's manipulation of COVID-19 data, while state officials said she was fired for insubordination.
Jones later ran against Rep. Matt Gaetz for Florida’s 1st Congressional District, but lost to Gaetz who gained 68% of the vote.
Rebekah Jones' criminal history
Prosecutors filed a deferred prosecution agreement in Leon County Circuit Court on Dec. 9, 2022, that was signed by Jones.
The agreement delays prosecution for two years and has six special conditions, including paying $20,000 to reimburse the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for its investigation costs and admitting guilt to the charged offense.
If Jones meets conditions and is not arrested for another crime during the two-year period, prosecutors will drop the charges without Jones having to enter a guilty plea in the case officially.
Jones was charged in the case after FDLE agents executed a search warrant on her home in December 2020 that made national news.
Prosecutors alleged that Jones accessed a state computer system without authorization and sent a mass text calling on state employees to speak out against Florida's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By that point, Jones had become a well-known critic of DeSantis and had filed a whistleblower complaint after being fired from the Florida Department of Health five months earlier.
A state inspector general report released earlier in 2022 on Jones' whistleblower allegations found no evidence of wrongdoing by the Department of Health.
Jones took to social media once again, calling reports she admitted guilt false. In a video posted to her YouTube account, she said she had only admitted to having a Department of Health roster on her private computer.
"There was no guilty plea. There was no plea of any kind because it was a dismissal. The case is being dropped," Jones said in a video published on her YouTube channel.
However, the agreement she signed explicitly says she is admitting guilt.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Rebekah Jones' son pleads no contest to threatening school shooting
