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FDLE Says Tate Homecoming Queen And Her Mother Hacked Student Accounts So She Would Win; Both Facing Multiple Felonies
March 16, 2021
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has arrested a Tate High School student and her mother, an elementary school assistant principal, on charges for allegedly hacking student accounts in order to place fraudulent votes for the Tate High homecoming queen last fall.
Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her 17-year old daughter, Emily Rose Grover, were charged by FDLE with one count each of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices (a third degree felony), unlawful use of a two-way communications device (a third degree felony), criminal use of personally identifiable information (a third degree felony) and conspiracy to commit these offenses (a first degree misdemeanor). Carroll was booked into the Escambia County Jail and released on an $6,000 bond. Grover was taken into custody and transferred to the Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center.
Grover was named Tate High School’s 2020 homecoming queen.
The investigation began in November 2020 when the Escambia County School District contacted FDLE to report unauthorized access into hundreds of student accounts. The investigation found that Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, and her Grover, a student at Tate High School, had accessed student FOCUS accounts. Carroll had district level access of the school board’s FOCUS program which is the school district’s student information system. FOCUS users are required to change their password every 45 days and Carroll’s annual training for the “Staff Responsible Use of Guidelines for Technology” was up to date.
In October 2020, hundreds of votes for Tate High School’s Homecoming Court voting were flagged as fraudulent, with 117 votes originating from the same IP address within a short period of time. Agents uncovered evidence of unauthorized access to FOCUS linked to Carroll’s cellphone as well as computers associated with their residence, with a total of 246 votes cast for the homecoming court. Multiple students reported that the Grover described using her mother’s FOCUS account to cast votes. The investigation also found that beginning August 2019, Carroll’s FOCUS account accessed 372 high school records and 339 of those were of Tate High School students.
Arrest affidavits obtained by NorthEscambia.com provide more details into the allegations.
When two FDLE special agents responded to Carroll and Grover’s residence in Cantonment to interview them, Carroll immediately stated that she would defer any questions to her attorney, FDLE said.
FDLE received nine statements from students and a teacher that all stated Grover spoke about accessing Carroll’s FOCUS account or they have seen her access it for almost four years.
“I have known that Emily Grover logs into her moms school account in order to access grades and test scores since freshman year when we became friends,” one student said in a statement to FDLE. “She has looked up [redacted] student ID before to [redacted]. She also knows that if she logs into her moms account at Tate it will ping that Laura Grover signed in at Tate High School. She looks up all of our group of friends grades and makes comments about how she can find out our test scores all of the time.”
“When Emily Grover was a sophomore [redacted] class, I recall times that she logged onto her moms focus account and openly shared information, grades, schedules, etc. with others. She did not seem like logging in was a big deal and was very comfortable with doing so,” another statement written by a witness said.
According to FDLE, the Escambia County School District FOCUS program contains grades, medical history, test scores, attendance, disciplinary actions, personnel information, emergency contacts, schedules, exceptional student education (ESE) information, student picture and student identification number. Teachers and staff members are able to view student profiles or more depending on access level.
The school district uses an application called Election Runner to perform activities such as homecoming court voting. FDLE was notified that Election Runner contacted the school district regarding over 100 flagged votes and an ethics complaint involving the Tate High School homecoming voting.
Carroll contested Grover’s expulsion from Tate High School that stemmed from the incident. An administrative hearing was held, and Grover’s expulsion was upheld.
The Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit will prosecute this case.
Carroll has been suspended from her position with the school district.
Pictured above and below: Laura Rose Carroll, Bellview Elementary Facebook and Escambia County Jail; Emily Rose Grover, Tate High School’s 2020 homecoming queen, NorthEscambia.com photos.
Comments
91 Responses to “FDLE Says Tate Homecoming Queen And Her Mother Hacked Student Accounts So She Would Win; Both Facing Multiple Felonies”
Someone may have mentioned this already but one thing I was questioning was the fact that several students and an employee all stated they knew or had witnessed Emily access FOCUS over the course of the past 4 years. It was also mentioned that she did so in a way that appeared as if it was no big deal. If all of these people, including an employee, knew of this why didn’t they report it then? Reading through the comments that I could tolerate that weren’t absolutely ridiculous and ignorant it sounds as if Emily overall is a good girl who made a typical teenager type stupid mistake. It doesn’t sound as if she was being malicious with her actions when she was “looking” at the school records. Again she is a teenager who, acting as teenagers will, made a stupid decision that does not seem to warrant expulsion. The mother was the adult and knew better of the ramifications of accessing/manipulating private records. If it is able to be proven that Emily did not alter any records or use the info she saw to bring about harm to anyone then she should not be expelled. There could still be some sort of punishment given but not to that severity. If the same amount of attention that has been given to this was given to the reckless initiators of deadly viral video challenges, like kids/teens eating poisonous laundry packets or choking themselves to death, OR the deadly consequences of texting/distracted driving OR cyber bullying leading to suicide….then MAYBE it would save some lives and teach lessons that kids/teens would actually remember the rest of their lives. Unlike this silly high school homecoming queen cheating mess.
Parents are understandably questioning security due to this. FOCUS itself is secure. So secure that it causes us teachers issues occasionally bc of needing to jump through hoops, but no one seems to mind that every mac computer we’ve ever been assigned as employees can be logged in to with the same password.
All of the shenanigans could have been done by the student alone and the mother is just running on pure stupidity from saving passwords in her devices. Regardless, this is awful all around
People who cheat, steal, rob, and murder do that because that’s the only way they can win. This speaks for how this country came about. A lot of y’all been lying, cheating, stealing, and murdering every since, so the fact that y’all are doing it to each other should not come as a surprise.
Mother title needs to be taken away!
Real Mothers don’t teach their child to lie, steal, cheat!
How did she get her Assistant Principal job?
Glad she wasn’t involved in my children or granddaughter education!
It’s a shame when people stoop so low to cheat just to win something. But I guess they figured that’s how Biden won so why not. It will always come back to haunt you, it’s called KARMA.
Lol! And this gets more comments than a story title about a 16 yr old girl getting raped. Cmon community get ur heads out of ur butt and get ur priorities straight! Yall all seemed so butt hurt about it. In 2 yrs everyone wont evwn remember her name. STUPID!
I, too, am an AnonTATEr
thnx 4 your reasoned remark
@Anonymous Tate Alumnus on March 17th, 2021 3:10 pm
Really!!!!!!!
“Just how things go at Tate. You are a shoe in if your relative works at Tate.”
My Grandchildren are attending Tate High and they earn their rewards. No relative of ours works there or anywhere in the School District. This event with Mother and Daughter is an isolated problem and it happens to be at Tate High.
You have no proof of that statement you typed. That’s what’s wrong with society, is someone is always spouting off about something they don’t have proof about. You must be angry so take that down the road. This situation could happen at any school.
@Mel they proved she rigged the voting system.
I cannot WAIT to graduate and never look back.
It’s terrible that this happened and I hope an appropriate punishment is given, but the bigger issue in my opinion is the fact that they were able to commit this crime in the first place. We need to learn from this incident and seriously increase our cybersecurity in Escambia county. No school employee (even the higher-ups) should be able to hack into a student’s account and violate their privacy like that.
Right now, we don’t need to be pointing blame, or pushing religion into a secular conversation, or getting angry over this. We need to fight for students’ rights to privacy because it’s obvious from this incident that they’re not as safe as we previously thought.
This is really sad. See things like this are not worth it! She taught her daughter wrong behaviors of privacy violation, and it countinued in later years. This is why we teach our kids right from the start! She got expelled from school which is a serious offense, which is the saddest part. She will countinue her education, but this will be always on her transcripts, which means she will have it that much harder. You can’t help to wander with that much access, how much widespread is the corruption. An elementary school assistant principal with access to high school info, and grades. I’ve never heard of that, and if she has that power, how much of countless other’s? Can they change grades? This might be the start of a massive investigation. The public needs to know if record keeping procedures, and accountable figures. This can aid with fradgulent crimes, and a road map!
They’re going to have to redo the yearbook pages. The homecoming photos will be
mugshots. It’ll be an interesting chapter for the yearbook staff to write with the
homecoming queen in the hoosegow.
Anyone with any sort of morals or conscience could not have gone through with this and then acted as though they legitimately won! Talk about a hollow victory. The ends don’t justify the means and this is a prime example.
This is the stuff that “Lifetime” movies are made out of! WOW! I am the mother of three girls, two of which were Homecoming Queens. If they can’t get chosen fairly, then it isn’t a win!! So sad that her mother was so shallow as to be involved and encouraged her participation.
Cheating on computer voting for highschool homecoming and American people just let cheating for the Presidential election and nothing was done. Always watching the little man and push what the big guys do under the rug
Teaching a young person how to manipulate an election? As a parent, maybe a class in ethics would have served the daughter more! Now, she’ll be entering adulthood with a Felony Conviction and closing all of the doors that are associated with such a crime- so, Good Luck with that. To any of the young people on this page complaining that jealous students reported her……GET some ETHICS and join the REAL world. Criminal behavior doesn’t need to be celebrated. The mother violated her employment agreement when she allowed the girl to access her account. The student should know right from wrong by third grade- hopefully, that BIG ‘OLE FELONY on her record will remind her what it means to conduct herself in an honorable fashion (whether or not someone is watching) -The saddest part of the whole story is that this young woman has been alive all these years and is just now learning right from wrong.
Someone finally get caught. Children of school employees have always been the winners of any elections. Just how things go at Tate. You are a shoe in if your relative works at Tate. I’m sure others have changed results too. Just had sense not to talk about it. A sad but true situation. Sad situation
I hope she wasn’t planning on going to college next year.
@Cancel Culture:
You just had to take it there, didn’t you? Give it a rest…jesus christ.
I’m surprised public schools still have this tradition & haven’t done away with the homecoming thing. I’m sure it’s coming (eye roll)!
I’m bad…I’m nationwide!
Laura, meet Lori (Laughlin), she’ll be your new cell-mate…
Stupid is as stupid does
Does she have to give the crown back?
@Sarah W: There are college-bound students who perform thousands of hours of community service in pursuit of scholarships and the like. 100 hours of community service would be a pathetic slap on the wrist, and not sufficient for felony charges.
@EMD: Your proselytizing is unnecessary and irrelevant.
@Trish: She has already been expelled, and her mother is on suspension, and I’d be surprised if she didn’t lose her job.
@Miah Guntner: #1 – respect yourself enough to at least capitalize your own name.
#2 – Emily’s future was “ruined” by her and her mother committing felonies because she wanted to unfairly win a beauty/popularity contest. It was discovered by the company that runs the voting system, and reported as the security problem it was.
#3 – You may want to rethink your friendships.
—-
It IS sad that this girl’s mother didn’t teach her to have the integrity to play fairly and by the rules. It is frightening that the mother didn’t properly respect her own access to such sensitive information enough to protect that information from someone who clearly shouldn’t have had access to it.
I work for the district too, and my particular job gives me access to see certain private information of certain students. I don’t even leave mine logged in, in my office full of other people who have the same access as me! I don’t leave it logged in at home. And I can say with certainty that MOST of us who work for the District are respectful of whatever access we have, and we take the right measures to protect student information. I’m both an employee of the District, and a parent of an Escambia County student, and I am thankful that this woman and her daughter are not the “norm” here, but an unfortunate rare minority.
I am a retired teacher. I never allowed my children access to my job passwords. That’s totally unprofessional of the mother. The daughter is very beautiful and probably would have won without cheating.
I hope having a meaningless title was worth it.
Wow. Committing felonies for something so trivial and without value. It’s like robbing a Tom Thumb for a Tornado and a YooHoo! Big dummies.
Sure give Tate a black eye…….
It sadden me to no end
For 4 years this Assistant Principal accessed student accounts that were none of her business fraudulently. No telling what alterations she made for friends and acquaintances. How can anyone justify such behavior?
It also proves a degree does not make you an intelligent person -
@ Fiona
I guess you are the opinion police?
Those two are who you need to say their prayers for themselves.
They both knew what they were doing and had been doing the Focus deal for 4 years.
Educated enough to know better and they would have been happy the rest of their life if they had not got caught.
Everyone who they violated their confidential rights when they broke into the system need to sue them both.
Get off the stage Fiona , its not your turn yet…even though you more than likely from your tone knew what they were doing…..
They both put themselves above everyone and committed felonies.
They knew it was felonious…
The mom, she violated all educators trust…people who do their job.
She and the daughter violated the whole school systems nationwide …not just the Escambia system.
Good luck with your Opinion Police job.
when does the Lifetime movie come out?
If you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying
@Bubba Griffith
So identify theft is something that you think should be ignored?
Using someone else’s credentials to obtain access to others personal records is against the law regardless of how petit you believe the crime was. Would you like someone to do this to any of your accounts?
miah guntner: Integrity and ethics matter. There are strict rules and laws about accessing people’s personal academic, financial, and medical records for a reason.
No one “ruined” your friend’s life – she did it herself, with help from the mother who enabled her.
Way to go Pensacola. We made headlines again for something stupid. Stuff like this only happens in Florida. Lol
Let’s extend some grace here. Yes- these people made a terrible mistake that they are already paying for. This young lady may be expelled her senior year in high school and mom will lose her job. Please take a minute to say a prayer for them in what is likely the most difficult time in their lives.
Yes- I know others are in much tougher circumstances but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be understanding here.
Oh , the mighty (popular, will liked, in-crowd) have fallen
@ miah guntner
yes she was arrested because high school kids were jealous
Grow the hell up!!!!
You have no friends now because your friends lists is SLOWLY going down! Because no one wants to be a friend with someone who wants to cheat out a HOMECOMING election!
miah guntner on March 16th, 2021 10:33 am,I’m personally friends with emily, and she has always tried her best in school and never got in trouble… i’m sure these little girls who told the deans are just jealous of what she had. emily had her whole future planned out and now it’s all ruined due to some high school kids.
You are definitely part of the problem if you think the girls that did the reporting to the dean are at fault!
I’m sure this has happened at other schools, but the Mama didn’t work at Tate, so the big culprit is Mama, with daughter following her steps. Sad future for 10 minutes of local fame.
Ugh. Another reminder of how terrible and pathetic high school is.
Shut the schools down.
With all the news stations picking up the story, Mom should be very happy. Her daughter is famous now. All you people downing the Momma, remember the daughter was in on it too! It’s really sad that they felt this was necessary for a high school popularity contest.
I’m personally friends with emily, and she has always tried her best in school and never got in trouble… i’m sure these little girls who told the deans are just jealous of what she had. emily had her whole future planned out and now it’s all ruined due to some high school kids.
The daughter should not be allowed to attend public schools. She should have to attend virtual school and she have to give up her crown. The mother should be fired and should never be allowed to work in the school system or any other school system EVER. I am familiar with the FOCUS system. School records and IEP records are extremely confidential. Who is to say that she didn’t tamper with her own records and grades? Bragging about access to such accounts is just WRONG! How come this went on for four years? This should have been reported WAY before NOW! If the Mom had a background check and any type of clearance, it should be revoked too! Shame on both of them! The runner up should be crowned.
These people have made some powerful people mad !! This is what FDLE has to work on with all the drugs and crime ?? This is world news ??
Hahahaha. Northendbrat. Your comment. Laughing out loud.
This student should be expelled and the mother should be fired. This student should not have the honor of going to a public school anymore nor walking across the stage with her peers. The mother should never be allowed to work in the school district again. Some of the information on Focus accounts are confidential for example an IEP. I would like to know if my child was one of the ones that was hacked.
I genuinely cannot think of a more ridiculous reason than something as lame as a high school pageant or whatever to go to jail for. Just. WOW. Big life goals here! Rotfl
Should also be an. Investigation on how she got that assistant principal position she should have known better Something not right here She should have been setting the example
Now the movie and book deals will come……
SO….who really won the title????
Time to review the ‘Queen’’s academic record. I do not doubt for a second that mom had her set up for her to be the valdictorian of the class of 2021.
She shouldn’t even be allowed to graduate until the grades are validated. She can finish her GED from juvenile detention center.
will this be on her permanent record
Shameful! Mother has ruined the daughters life
That’ll make some resume … homecoming queen, kicked out of high school, and convicted felon.
Fox News picked up your story!
I really don’t think that this can or should be just a little fine. Today they hack into a school computer system – what will they try to break into tomorrow?? And even if they don’t get jail time – everyone knows who they are and what they did. All that they had going for them and now it is flushed down the toilet and for what – the girl’s 15 minute of fame?? The girl getting the crown last year is like getting an honorary degree from a college – getting something special but not working for it. And who knows – the girl is pretty and may have won the crown without the cheating, but now she will never know. Sad!!
When Britney can’t do it herself…. Karen has to step in.
OMG, this has GOT to be the funniest story out of Escambia County this year!!! Please please, NorthEscambia.com, send both of these women a prize for being the most comically ignorant and insane women in Escambia County!!!
They love being winners, right?!? Playing stupid games will always win stupid prizes!!
Pathetic.
How very sad!!!! Sad but not surprising. The mother in a elevated position within the School System(no, I do not blame the School System or Board for this)and I’m pretty sure the daughter knew what was going on. To tarnish this crown and it’s previously worn Queens(not sure how that whole crown thing works…I had sons not daughters) and to cheat on something that’s not going to matter in a few years. Both of them now will be looked down upon for cheating at a High School football game during the Homecoming festivities. It’s especially sad that it was in a year of Turmoil and hard times during the Covid mess. They have both been arrested and exposed. There’s not much that will/can be done to them other than the mother SHOULD/NEEDS to be fired and stripped of all associated paths within this school system and others in the country. The daughter will be laughed at but I’m thinking the ultimate punishment…in anyone’s life…is total and complete embarrassment. Re assemble the Original Homecoming Court…on the field in their dresses with parents…fill the stands with the band and spectators. Crown the REAL QUEEN (original runner up) but make this young lady place the Crown on the new QUEEN while dressed in JailHouse Green Jumpsuit and Handcuffed complete with leg shackles…make the mother, dressed and shackled as well…watch from the sidelines then March both of them in front of their peers and loaded up in a Police Car and REMOVED. No, this won’t happen due to reasons that we all know but we all have thought the same thought process on this…I pray that this young lady changes her path and her mother as well changes. This is a slap in the face to the entire Student body as well as the ones who really should have won this event…sad sad sad
She don’t look nothin like her Ma….
When are some people going to learn that in the age of computers, cameras and DNA, if you commit a crime you are going to get CAUGHT! This was wrong, it was selfish, and it was stupid! I hope they (and many others) learn a lesson from this.
My, my how stupid.. The Mother set a good example in her daughters life. What for a 10 minute walk on the football field. Thirty years from now who will even care,? Queen Bee probably be old looking, fat and ugly.. How stupid the 2 were..Way to go Mom raising your daughter correctly..
who cares? Beauty pageants are a joke in high school. A school body “voting” for a girl who doesn’t care one thing about you or would even turn their head to speak to you. Most times….a bully.
What. Is sad is a parent should mentor the children in life to do right.
This is an epic fail that the 17 year old will have haunting her the rest of her life. Mom should be proud of what she created.
Moms life will also be forever known as a failure.
Vanity kills,greed kills.
I pray for both.
It’s going to get real now.
Really sad
What a joke!!! SMH! Sadly that’s the culture of Tate! This is not the first time! It’s just the first time it’s been caught on that level!!! Most of the time the people that are on the court NO ONE EVEN KNOWS! So I’m sure she was a damsel in distress for the crown!
Our society needs the real Jesus Christ. He is the only one that can change a person, and thus our society. Many know of Him. They use His name as a swear “word,” and not The Word of a Holy God. We that name His Name do not always act like we know Him. Without turning to Him, our society is doomed for sure. People need to study (at least, read) His Word for themselves.E
I know the daughter very well and the runner up, Arianna, yes punishment should be to recrown Arianna at the Tate softball breast cancer
Well……that’s embarrassing.
Not much will happen to them.
No money stolen , no old ladies ripped off.
They will lawyer up.
A year of probation and 1000 fine , tops.
Emily fell down and broke her crown and Laura came tumbling after.
Throw both back in the jail house, take her crown, and kick her off the court, and give it to some other deserving girl, then fire the mother. She will certainly be remembered, but not as she wanted.
Vanity , vanity , all is vanity
Fast Times at Tate Mont High – maybe her daughter can be homecoming queen in joovie hall
To Cantonment local.. this type of behavior is not only WATCH OUT for the snakes in public schools, it’s in all institutions of learning.
At least it’s not the Florida man this time being mocked in the headlines world wide.
Homecoming Queen to House Arrest Queen
An historic quote readily comes to mind on this one:
“Oh, the humanity…” – Reporter Herb Morrison upon witnessing the disastrous attempt to land the German airship Hindenburg at Lakehurst, N.J. in 1937.
At Emily….I said the exact same thing! Lifetime here we come! Geeze….pathetic….
Aryana should have won. Cheating is a disgusting trait and to teach it to your child who knew she didn’t win but wore that crown knowing it wasn’t hers is even worse. I know Aryana’s mama and she wouldn’t dream of behaving like that. I don’t think the teen girl should have her life ruined for this, but bothe she and ESPECIALLY her mother should have 100 hours of community service each and her mother should be fired. She should not have access to school records anymore or ever again.
Take out the trash.
Oh please let this become a lifetime movie
Oh my! What lengths a parent will go to make their entitled child feel special, not to mention the early lesson of cheating rather than earning something fairly. The same kids eat tide pods nowadays too. WATCH OUT for snakes in the grass when sending your child to public school never know what corruption is lurking behind these enablers we claim as our children’s school staff. My prayers go out to you all, and good luck to that pretty face that now has a record at 17, quit following in mommy’s foot steps or you’re gonna stay in the system sweetie.
How trashy, vain, and disgusting.
This sounds like a Lifetime movie in the making. Her Mother probably missed out on being the homecoming queen or cheerleader and now lives vicariously through her daughter. Wow! …I wonder who the runner up is and if she’s going to get the crown now.
Do these people in admin positions do not hear when other admins got caught for the same thing like the assistant principal gal in Gulf Breeze changing grades?
Our society is DOOMED!!!!!!
Pathetic
Well that pretty smile just to be recognized as something your not. Boyeeeee someine peed in your cornflakes hub