On March 15, 4 police cruisers pulled as much as a modest brick home within the sleepy city of Cantonment, Florida, to arrest two accused hackers. The cops fanned out, swat team-style across the dwelling, stationing themselves on the entrance, again and aspect doorways. They pounded on home windows and demanded the alleged cyber crooks present their faces, based on witnesses and courtroom paperwork.
Out got here an unlikely pair: Laura Carroll, a petite 50-year-old elementary college vice principal and her 17-year-old daughter, Emily Grover, a well-liked native tennis star and “A” pupil at close by Tate Excessive Faculty.
Police cuffed the ladies and, at one level, Carroll begged them to let her placed on a bra earlier than hauling her away to jail, she stated. The teenager was taken to a juvenile detention heart.
Eight months later, they each face 16 years in jail—a punishment harsher than what some high-level ransomware attackers and company information thieves obtain. However the pair stands accused of a more unusual crime: hacking into a college pc system to rig a homecoming election in Grover’s favor.
The alleged cheat for glory might have ended with a slap on the wrist if it weren’t for native mother and father’ fears, investigators’ ambitions and the pair’s personal stubbornness, based on a whole lot of pages of courtroom paperwork and interviews with individuals concerned. The duo has refused a no-jail plea settlement, and the case is now headed to trial as quickly as January, their lawyer stated.
In an interview, the ladies inform me they’ve develop into city pariahs who not often go away the home and are desperately attempting to restore their popularity — and so they don’t have any plans to again down. “We’re not pleading responsible to one thing we didn’t do,” Carroll stated. “If there was any crime dedicated, the punishment doesn’t match.”
“For us, an important factor is to clear our identify, and to let the entire trustworthy story come out,” she stated.
To listen to Grover’s household, associates and lecturers inform it, she was a beloved athlete who labored onerous to beat consideration deficit dysfunction, solely to develop into ensnared in a tech mix-up and made right into a sacrificial lamb.
To listen to regulation enforcement and college officers inform it, Grover and her mom tarnished the “dignity” of the time-honored homecoming custom, “rattled” mother and father and brought about a official pc safety menace to a whole lot of scholars.
To win the crown, investigators say Grover acquired dozens of scholars’ ID numbers and birthdates from a district-wide pc system utilizing her vice principal mother’s log-in. The pair then allegedly solid not less than 246 faux votes for the teenager on Carroll’s cellphone and a pc at their dwelling by means of Election Runner, a third-party app utilized by the varsity.
Emily Grover, left, and her mom, Laura Carroll.
Escambia County Jail
Caroline Grey, a pupil council instructor in command of the homecoming vote, was first to identify one thing fishy, based on courtroom paperwork. On the morning of Oct. 30, 2020—the day Grover was topped at an elaborate ceremony — Grey observed the app had flagged dozens of “false” votes.
Grey, who is understood for being a devoted educator, earned the varsity’s Trainer of the Yr award in 2017. Regardless of her good relationship with Grover, she was suspicious in regards to the “invalid” votes solid within the teen’s favor, based on her deposition. So she known as not less than 4 college students, together with a boy who had supposedly solid his vote at 4 a.m., to see if their votes have been legit.
“There have been some indignant mothers. The runner-up was born to be homecoming queen; her mama was most likely a homecoming queen.”
A few of these college students instructed her they hadn’t voted. Others stated they tried however acquired a message from the app saying they’d already voted, based on investigators.
So Grey reported the suspicious information to then-superintendent Malcolm Thomas, who made the decision to let Grover obtain the award anyway, based on courtroom paperwork. The app had reported fraudulent votes on a smaller scale up to now, and a winner needed to be named in time for the ceremony that night time. (Grey declined to remark by means of a college district spokesman.)
At round 11:50 a.m., the instructor additionally acquired an unsolicited textual content message from Grover saying she’d heard, “Somebody was like dishonest or hacked the system like early within the morning?,” based on investigators.
The college introduced Grover queen, and shortly she was prepared for her close-up. Sporting a glittery gown and blonde hair, she flashed a smile as she clutched a bouquet of crimson roses on the homecoming ceremony, images from the native information web site northescambia.com present. Her dad, Bubba Grover, escorted her throughout a college soccer discipline whereas wearing a three-piece tuxedo and bowtie as followers within the stands cheered.
Profitable meant the world to Grover, who had beforehand thought-about herself an outcast on campus, she instructed me. “I got here right here freshman yr as the brand new woman. Most individuals at my highschool went to the identical center college, and had been associates ceaselessly. So loads of ladies didn’t like me due to that,” she stated.
Lastly, by senior yr, she stated, “I used to be very preferred—individuals preferred me.”
She wasn’t the one particular person in Cantonment wrapped up within the standing, custom and pageantry of the occasion. For a lot of households within the military-centric Pensacola suburb of about 26,000 individuals—the place teenage soccer gamers and cheerleaders are handled like borderline celebrities—homecoming is the city’s Oscars night time, locals instructed me.
Together with incomes respect and admiration, homecoming queens garner glowing native information write-ups and take dwelling a glimmering crown as a trophy. However the vote has additionally been identified to irk some mother and father and inflame native politics, which tends to be cut up geographically between rich north-enders and poorer people on the south aspect of city, based on locals.
“It’s undoubtedly a southern factor—homecoming is large down right here,” Carroll stated, explaining the realm is culturally nearer to Alabama than Florida. “It’s an enormous expense, and loads of effort for what’s principally a popularity-beauty contest.”
That night time, not everyone was happy that Grover had gained. “There have been some indignant mothers,” Carroll stated. “The runner-up was born to be homecoming queen; her mama was most likely a homecoming queen. She’s a cheerleader, blonde and candy and ding-y.”
An nameless tip got here into the Escambia County Faculty District’s fraud and abuse hotline the following day, which was Halloween. The thriller tipster claimed Grover had used the district’s “FOCUS” account—a pc system the place college students can see their grades, attendance, and disciplinary data—to rig the election.
The district’s chief investigator Gary Marsh shortly started probing the “scorching tip,” based on courtroom paperwork. He found 372 pupil data had been seen by means of Carroll’s account up to now 14 months, 339 of which have been from Tate Excessive Faculty, based on courtroom papers. The teenager had logged-in to get the “names and dates of delivery of individuals used for voting,” the tipster reported, based on Marsh.
When questioned in a deposition later, Marsh stated he couldn’t bear in mind if the tip had are available in through e-mail or telephone. A lawyer for the ladies, Randy Etheridge, known as the tip “rumour” and suspects it could have come from somebody “throughout the college district.”
Marsh, a former inner Naval crimes investigator, has a popularity for being a bulldog, stated Carroll, who labored at Bellview Elementary Faculty, not removed from the highschool. “When he’s approaching campus, somebody is dropping a job. The tip level is rarely good.”
So when he demanded solutions from Carroll, she initially clammed up and denied that she or anybody else had regarded on the accounts, Marsh stated in a deposition. Ultimately, she admitted to letting her daughter use her log-in “as a result of hers wasn’t working,” he stated. Requested why so many pupil profiles had been accessed by means of her account, she couldn’t present “any clarification in regards to the huge numbers.”
Carroll wasn’t precisely useful when questioned by Brian Johnson, the district’s pc safety supervisor, both. “It was not a pleasing interview,” he stated in a deposition. “My query in regards to the data safety coaching, I believe her response was… ‘I don’t take note of that bullshit.” (Marsh and Johnson declined to remark by means of a college district spokesman.)
“Is it political? Perhaps. Does somebody have an ax to grind? Perhaps.”
So investigators started digging round elsewhere. On Nov. 4, they interviewed not less than 9 college students—producing witness statements that learn like a cross between screenplays for Gossip Woman and Regulation and Order.
“I’ve identified that Emily Grover logs into her mothers [sic] account to entry grades and check scores since freshman yr after we grew to become associates,” one teenager, whose identify was redacted, wrote in bubbly handwriting. “She has regarded up my pupil ID earlier than as a way to inform me what I acquired on my FST and ACT… She appears to be like up all of our group of associates’ grades and makes feedback about how she will discover out our check scores the entire time.”
Different excessive schoolers reported that Grover, “didn’t appear to be logging in was an enormous deal” and that she did it to search out out “what number of days, like, somebody was absent or one thing.”
Grover’s finest pal, whose identify was additionally redacted, seemed to be on the defensive. “I’ve heard individuals/ college students saying the rumor that ‘loads of votes’ have been voted tremendous late,” the teenager wrote. “Emily Grover was going round [leadership class] saying I rigged senior superlatives or I’m attempting. I’m confused about the place any of that is coming from. I undoubtedly haven’t.”
Nonetheless, none of them reported having direct data about Grover allegedly rigging the election. And one woman instructed investigators Grover appeared genuinely confused about the way it might have occurred.
“Emily and I have been sitting at a desk together with her mother when all of this occurred, and Emily stated, ‘It might be my luck if somebody hacked the system and voted for me and acquired me disqualified when I’ve nothing to do with it,’” stated the teenager, who did Grover’s hair and make-up earlier than the ceremony.
“Each time I acquired to Emily’s home, she was having a freakout, saying she thought that possibly someone had achieved it for her,” she added later in a deposition.
By that time, rumors had begun swirling round campus—and had gotten again to Grover—after Grey known as college students, asking in regards to the “false” votes. However the instructor, who disagreed with the superintendent’s determination to crown Grover homecoming queen, hadn’t spoken to the teenager immediately that day, based on her deposition.
As an alternative of merely turning the proof over to highschool directors, Marsh known as the police. He handed the case over to the Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement, whose pc crimes unit typically probes severe id theft and web fraud violations.
Particular Agent Stephanie Cassidy quickly discovered {that a} complete of 124 votes had come from the identical IP tackle—Carroll’s cellphone—between 8 p.m. and a couple of a.m. on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30, 2020, based on investigators. A second IP tackle, the place not less than 122 extra votes had been solid, was allegedly linked to a pc at Carroll’s dwelling. However by the point Cassidy confirmed up on Carroll’s doorstep, she had lawyered up. Any questions might go straight to her lawyer, she instructed the cop.
In December, as the varsity board weighed whether or not to expel Grover, the teenager despatched a vacation reindeer trinket and a letter to the district’s new superintendent, Timothy Smith. In it, she allegedly apologized for different pupil’s accounts—however stopped wanting admitting to rigging the homecoming election, based on courtroom paperwork.
Within the following weeks, a number of lecturers, mentors and coaches vouched for Grover to the board. One tennis coach testified that she was an all-around good child, who “is personable, likable, humorous, athletic, a workforce participant and trustworthy” and even tutored his youngster, based on college district paperwork from January. “He considers Emily to be one of many high 10 youngsters of all of the totally different a whole lot of children he’s coached all through the years.”
“The college board pushed this as absolutely the crime of the century.”
The teenager’s Consideration Deficit Dysfunction additionally got here up, with one counselor expressing concern that the alleged hack could also be linked to impulsivity brought on by her incapacity. “One part of [ADD] is an incapability to understand the results of sure habits,” the counselor stated.
A number of lecturers additionally stood up for Grover, saying she’s a “very onerous employee” who “will get alongside properly with others” and has by no means “acted violent or disruptive or disobedient.”
However the board finally kicked her out of the varsity, writing that “Emily seems remorseful and is clearly a really brilliant pupil” however she brought about a “main disruption.” Her habits was “not a manifestation of her incapacity,” the district discovered.
Carroll was later fired from her job as assistant principal. Requested in regards to the determination,, Smith stated native mother and father’ fears about pc safety performed a task. “[The] piece that rattled lots of people was whether or not our system and all of the personal information we have now was secure, from an accessibility perspective. May anyone go do that?” Smith stated in a deposition. “And in order that was a part of what we have been speaking, is that our software program is secure; this system is tight.”
“I had some mother and father who—I had one father or mother specifically —who needed to know if their child’s information had been seen and was involved about that,” he stated. “It was attempting to manage the worry of—not management—however relaxation individuals assured.”
Smith claimed college students have been upset by the alleged rigged election, too. “I believe, for one, high-school traditions, cultures and so forth [ were damaged]. I believe that had a detrimental influence on youngsters as a result of that’s a particular time for seniors,” he stated. “I’d simply say the dignity of it was broken…I believe youngsters felt—I don’t know, dissatisfied or betrayed.”
The college district declined to discuss the case and the FDLE didn’t reply to questions. However Scott Augenbaum, a former FBI cyber crimes investigator, stated mother and father’ fears weren’t unfounded.
“To me, it’s a official concern. Identification theft is without doubt one of the largest-growing issues within the U.S. with 11 million thefts a yr,” stated Augenbaum, who wrote the e-book The Secret to Cybersecurity: A Easy Plan to Shield Your Household and Enterprise from Cybercrime. “Somebody might have gotten entry to all of these college students’ data.”
Nonetheless, he stated, it’s uncommon {that a} small-town case like this is able to make all of it the way in which to trial. “Is it political? Perhaps.” he stated. “Does somebody have an ax to grind? Perhaps.”
Carroll and Grover’s strong-willed, reputation-focused refusal to speak to cops and take a no-jail plea settlement additionally performed a task in why issues escalated. “They anticipated us to say, ‘Yeah, we did it’—however we didn’t,” Carroll stated. “I wouldn’t allow them to speak to my daughter. We simply didn’t reply their questions the way in which they needed us to.”
Halfway by means of the investigation, Etheridge requested Particular Agent Cassidy for the “courtesy” of notifying him if a warrant was issued within the pair’s arrest, so they may flip themselves in, based on courtroom paperwork.
As an alternative, the FDLE despatched a number of cop vehicles to mother and daughter’s dwelling inside minutes of getting the warrant, based on Etheridge and courtroom paperwork. “It was like killing a fly with a hammer,” Etheridge stated. “Police acted like they have been freaking Al Capone.”
Cops then put out a press launch inside hours of the arrest declaring, “FDLE arrests mom and daughter for unauthorized entry into a whole lot of pupil accounts.” It detailed how they have been hit with three felony expenses and one misdemeanor, together with legal use of personally identifiable data and illegal use of a two-way communications gadget.
The press launch sparked a firestorm of native and nationwide media protection, together with disdain for Grover and Carroll. “As a mom of a Tate graduate, one that’s an upcoming senior and one other an incoming freshman, I’m furious that [Carroll] gave her snot nosed brat of a daughter entry to MY youngster’s data!” one lady fumed within the remark part of northescambia.com, which covered the story.“I really feel as violated as I’d if she labored within the medical discipline and violated HIPAA!”
One other native instructed me, “Lots of people round [Carroll] can’t stand her now. Tate Excessive is a extra rural college, with that small-town angle.”
Two days after the arrest, homecoming queen runner-up Ariyana Wyatt spoke to Good Morning America in regards to the scandal. “The opposite ladies that might have gained, that needed it—that might have been one of many runner-ups—I really feel unhealthy for them as a result of that was a possibility that they misplaced,” she stated.
Wyatt and second runner up, Kendall Blackmon, didn’t return requests for remark. Reached by telephone, Blackmon’s sister, Kaleigh, snapped, “It’s in her previous. She doesn’t wish to speak about it.”
Etheridge’s protection to date hinges on a tech forensics skilled who discovered that the 124 votes linked to Carroll’s cellphone have been truly solid in a 20-minute time interval. “That’s not humanly doable,” he stated, including it could be an indication a pc program was used, or {that a} tech glitch occurred.
Etheridge, who took the case pro-bono as favor to Grover’s dad, calls the duo “my ladies” and Carroll “Mama Bear” in a silky southern accent. Although he initially inspired them to take a no-jail plea settlement, he’s skeptical as a result of “no one can level to a human at Election Runner who can confirm the ‘false’ votes,” he stated. “No one is aware of the place these yo-yos come from… There’s not one human being that may say definitively that it got here from this IP tackle.”
He additionally disputes the 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. timeline laid out by investigators, partially, as a result of the app has generated stories primarily based on a number of time zones, based on courtroom paperwork.
Etheridge stated Carroll might have been jogging with out her cellphone on the time of the alleged hack and that Grover was “spending the night time at a buddy’s home.” Neither he nor the ladies, nevertheless, have a principle about who might have solid the votes or how the ordeal unfolded, they instructed me.
In the end, Etheridge believes officers blew the case out of proportion, contemplating it’s a non-violent crime with no named victims. “The college board pushed this as absolutely the crime of the century,” he stated. “They pushed it to the restrict.” There’s no proof that any college students’ grades have been modified or that non-public data was stolen, based on courtroom paperwork. (Prosecutor Tom Williams declined to remark.)
Even so, Etheridge stated he urged Grover and Carroll to take a no-jail plea settlement, the phrases of that are unclear. However Carroll continues to insist, “It wasn’t a lot of a deal.”
“They’re saying, by God, we didn’t do it,” Etheridge stated. “So we’re going to trial in opposition to my recommendation.”
Because the arrest, Carroll stated she’s develop into the Hester Prynne of the Florida panhandle—condemned by a city rife with ethical panic. “I don’t actually even go away the home anymore,” she stated. “I can rely on one hand the quantity of people that have stood by me by means of this.”
Seeing her personal unflattering mugshot splashed throughout TV screens has been onerous to abdomen. “It’s terrible—each time I see it, I cringe,” she stated, including everybody appears to have an opinion about her, her daughter and the case.
“So many individuals stated, ‘She’ll let the child take the rap’ or ‘The child will get off’—everyone’s acquired their predictions,” Carroll stated, calling it hurtful. “I don’t know why I care a lot about individuals who don’t know me. It doesn’t matter; all of them already suppose we’re responsible.”
However she added, “The reality will rise. I believe it would.”
Grover has had a tougher time. After she was taken into custody in March, police arrested her once more and charged her as an grownup. She was forbidden from graduating together with her class, has misplaced greater than 20 kilos, and is seeing a psychiatrist for trauma triggered by incidents with the cops, together with different points, she stated.
Within the 2021 Tate Excessive Faculty yearbook, college students photoshopped a horse’s ass over Grover’s face—inflicting the books to be recalled in Might, based on Carroll and local reports. “It was terrible. [She’s] coping with the scorn of her friends in each venue,” Carroll stated. “She went from being everyone’s pal to having no associates.” Youngsters have harassed her on social media and through textual content, together with with a merciless group message mocking her mugshot, she stated.
In August, lower than per week earlier than Grover’s freshman yr was set to start on the College of Western Florida, she acquired a letter saying she was not welcome. The college alleged that Grover “didn’t disclose” that she’d been charged with a criminal offense, based on Carroll.
“She’s 18 years previous and this impacts her incomes potential and her picture,” stated Carroll, including she’s since employed a non-public investigator to dig up data earlier than trial.
“There are such a lot of layers to this case; it’s so warped and twisted.”
Grover, for her half, simply desires life to return to regular. “I need the reality to return out, for individuals to love me once more, to have the ability to go to highschool—and to only be glad,” she stated.
Greater than a yr after the alleged hack, the mother and daughter insist that even after the “false” votes have been deleted, Grover nonetheless gained the bulk. (Court docket paperwork seem to again up that declare.)
And the varsity district by no means formally stripped Grover of the crown, she stated. “Folks stated it acquired revoked—however that by no means occurred.” The teenager nonetheless retains the gleaming headwear tucked away inside her mother’s brick home.
Final month, a brand new homecoming queen was named at Tate Excessive Faculty. Like Grover, the younger lady, Darby Phillips, had blonde hair and a smile as she clutched a bouquet of crimson roses in the course of the ceremony. One thing was lacking, although.
Custom has it, final yr’s homecoming queen returns to go off the crown to the brand new winner. However this yr, the customized was scrapped for one massive cause, Grover stated. “They didn’t ask me again.”
