Assistant principal and her daughter, 17, are arrested after 'rigging homecoming queen election by HACKING student accounts and casting fake votes' so she could win
A Florida teen and her mother have been accused of rigging a high school homecoming court election by hacking students' accounts and casting fake ballots.
Emily Rose Grover, 17, and Laura Rose Carroll, 50, were arrested on Monday in Pensacola after investigators uncovered their alleged plot to tamper with the election at Tate High School so that the teen would win homecoming queen last fall.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) said it opened the investigation in November after officials with the Escambia County School District (ECSD) reported that hundreds of student accounts had been accessed without authorization.
Investigators alleged that Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, which is part of ECSD, used her credentials to break into the accounts and cast votes for Emily, who ultimately won the title.
Emily Rose Grover, 17, (left) and Laura Rose Carroll, 50, (right) were arrested in Pensacola, Florida, on Monday after authorities said they rigged a high school homecoming court election by hacking students' accounts and casting fake ballots
The two women were charged with offense against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices; unlawful use of a two-way communication device; criminal use of personally identified information; and conspiracy to commit the aforementioned offenses.
Carroll was booked into Escambia County Jail, the FDLE said in a statement. Records show she was released on $8,500 bond soon after.
Emily was booked into the Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center.
Carroll's husband told CNN: 'We have no comment right now. Our lawyers told us not to speak and we will have our day in court.'
The alleged scheme came to light after Tate High School officials noticed that 117 votes for the homecoming court were cast from the same IP address within a short period of time.
After being contacted by ECSD, investigators found evidence of unauthorized access of student accounts on Carroll's phone and home computers, the FDLE said.
The agency said a total of nearly 250 fraudulent votes were cast, and that 'multiple students reported that Carroll's daughter described using her mother's account to cast votes'.
The investigation also found that Carroll's account allegedly accessed 372 high school records - 339 belonging to Tate students - beginning in August 2019.
Carroll was suspended from the ECSD, a spokesperson told the Pensacola News Journal.
Carroll allegedly accessed records for 339 students at Tate High School (pictured)
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