Florida teen and mom face jail for ‘hacking homecoming Queen vote’

Florida teen being tried as adult as she stands accused of fraud in homecoming queen election

Emily Rose Grover is being legally treated as an adult for her involvement in hacking the homecoming queen vote in her favour (Escambia County Jail)

A teenager from Florida has been arrested after allegedly attempting to cheat a Homecoming Queen election.

Emily Rose Grover was 17 years old when she was arrested, alongside her mother, for allegedly hacking into people’s online accounts and submitting 250 false votes to become Homecoming Queen.

Last month, Ms Grover turned 18, and the State Attorney’s Office in Escambia County said they will try her as an adult, according to reports from Fox News.

Ms Grover and her mother, Laura Rose Caroll, 50 are both standing against various felonies for interfering in the vote for Tate High School’s Homecoming Queen in the town of Pensacola. Ms Caroll works as the assistant headteacher of the nearby Bellview Elementary School.

These charges come after a month-long investigation into the vote for homecoming queen after the local school district reported fraudulent access to student profiles, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The investigation determined that 117 votes were cast from the same IP address over a short window of time.

Additionally, 246 votes were placed from the accounts accessed from computers inside the mother and daughter’s home or from Ms Caroll’s mobile phone, the same report said.

Students from Ms Grover’s school said that she had bragged about voting from her mother’s school district account to vote. It was discovered in the investigation’s report that Ms Carroll’s account had opened 372 student records and 339 of those attended Tate.

Unlawful use of two-way communications and criminal use of personal identifiable information are some of the charges against the mother and daughter.

Ms Grover was released from jail with a $2,000 bond and Ms Caroll is on a $6,000 bond.

Reports were unable to determine if Ms Caroll had been let go from her role but it was confirmed she was suspended at one point.