TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorneys for a former state health employee whose home was raided earlier this month have filed a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, saying the Dec. 7 execution of a search warrant "was a sham to punish" her for not altering COVID-19 data.

The 19-page lawsuit, filed Sunday in Leon County court, is seeking damages and a jury trial on behalf of Rebekah Jones.

"They entered her home with guns drawn, terrorizing her family," attorneys for Jones said in the lawsuit against the FDLE and Commissioner Rick Swearingen.

The lawsuit alleges that Jones' "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."

In the hours after the raid, Jones posted a 31-second video clip on her Twitter account that showed her opening the door as agents made their way inside with their guns drawn. Jones claimed that they pointed a gun at her and her children.

Swearingen defended his agents' actions, releasing body camera video that he claimed showed their "extreme patience."

"Agents afforded Ms. Jones ample time to come to the door and resolve this matter in a civil and professional manner," Swearingen said in his statement. "As this video will demonstrate, any risk or danger to Ms. Jones or her family was the result of her actions."

The lawsuit claims Jones "opened the door within 39 seconds of the first time an agent shouting at the door mentioned a search warrant."

However, the FDLE said it took 23 minutes from the time law enforcement arrived until Jones opened the door.

RELATED: Rebekah Jones could face felony charge | Florida agents raid home of ousted COVID-19 data curator

Attorneys for Jones claimed the search warrant "was obtained in bad faith and with no legitimate object or purpose."

"The search warrant was never valid and would never have been signed if a fair presentation of the facts had been given to Judge Joshua Hawkes, who signed the warrant," the lawsuit said.

During a Dec. 11 news conference, DeSantis snapped at a reporter who asked him about the incident, saying it was "not a raid."

WEB EXTRA: Gov. Ron DeSantis spars with reporter over Jones investigation

"These people did their jobs," DeSantis said. "They've been smeared as the Gestapo for doing their jobs."

The FDLE did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Swearingen said in a statement Monday that he is "proud of the professionalism shown by our FDLE agents as they served a legal search warrant on the residence of Rebekah Jones."

"Our criminal investigation continues, and while I have not seen this lawsuit, I believe the facts will come out in court," Swearingen added.

This story was first reported by Peter Burke at WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Forbes named geographer and former Florida COVID-19 data curator Rebekah Jones its “Technology Person of the Year.”

Jones, the data curator who was fired for unauthorized public comments about Florida’s coronavirus numbers in May, created her own dashboard to track coronavirus numbers.

She later launched a national dashboard to track school-related cases.

Jones said she was fired for being too transparent regarding COVID-19 numbers and refusing to manipulate data.

On Dec. 7, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents served Jones a search warrant on her home. According to the FDLE affidavit, the state’s public health department sent a notice to FDLE as part of an investigation over unauthorized access to a state messaging system.

In a lawsuit against FDLE on Dec. 21, Jones' attorneys claimed FDLE obtained the search warrant "in bad faith and with no legitimate object or purpose."

“Regardless, she is the latest technologist who stepped up to fill the vacuum left by governments during COVID-19,” the article on Forbes’ website reads.

She is the first-ever recipient of the magazine’s "Technology Person of the Year" distinction.

This story was first published by WTXL Staff in Tallahassee, Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —

A Florida woman fired from her job as a COVID-19 data curator said she'll surrender to authorities Sunday amid an investigation of allegations that she had hacked into the state's emergency response system.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Rebekah Jones has been under investigation since early November after someone illegally accessed the state's emergency alert health system, warning employees "to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You don't have to be a part of this. Be a hero."

Federal authorities raided her home in December, seizing her computers and other data equipment.

Jones, who has been highly critical of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on social media and questioned the validity of the state's COVID data, said in a Twitter statement Saturday that she would surrender shortly.

In the tweet she said that "to protect my family from continued police violence, and to show that I'm ready to fight whatever they throw at me, I'm turning myself into police in Florida Sunday night. The Governor will not win his war on science and free speech. He will not silence those who speak out."

It's unclear what exact charge she might face. Jones said on Twitter that "the warrant was based on a lie" and noted a state agent told her the arrest warrant is unrelated to the December raid.

FDLE, the state's top crime-fighting agency, confirmed Saturday there is an active warrant for her arrest, but an agency spokeswoman said they could not provide additional details until Jones surrendered.

The agency also confirmed it had "analyzed forensic evidence that was within the scope of the December search warrant," according to an email statement to The Associated Press. It did not elaborate on the evidence.

Jones was fired from her post in May after she raised questions about Florida's COVID-19 data. She had been reprimanded several times and was ultimately fired for violating Health Department policy by making public remarks about the information, state records show.

"FDLE found no evidence of a message sent last Nov. to DOH staff telling them to 'speak out' on any of the devices they took ... However, police did find documents I received/downloaded from sources in the state, or something of that nature," she said in a series of Twitter statements.

DeSantis has defended the state's handling of the case. After the December raid, Jones filed a complaint in Leon County Circuit Court alleging state police violated her rights to free speech and due process.

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Former State of Florida public health employee Rebekah Jones has reportedly been permanently suspended from Twitter.

According to the Miami Herald, the ban occurred Monday after Jones posted a link to a story by the newspaper about the raid on her home in 2020.

The newspaper and the Washington Post reported that the social media company suspended her account because she violated their rules against “spam and platform manipulation."

According to Twitter, platform manipulation is "using Twitter to engage in bulk, aggressive, or deceptive activity that misleads others and/or disrupts their experience."

According to the Herald, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's press secretary Christina Pushaw called the suspension "long overdue."

Jones, who created the state’s original COVID-19 informational dashboard, was fired back in May 2020 "for refusing to manipulate data," USA Today reported.

After her firing, she created her own data portal and accused the state of mismanaging the pandemic, the Post reported.

In December, police raided her home.

Hours after news broke that Twitter banned Jones from its platform, she announced that she was running against Rep. Matt Gaetz.

He is currently under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly paying an underage girl for sex.