Details: Former Tate Homecoming Queen Gets Community Service, But She Won’t Have To Say She’s Sorry

January 15, 2022

A former Tate High School homecoming queen will have to stay out of trouble and log community service house, but she won’t have to say she’s sorry under the terms of a pre-trial diversion program.

Emily Rose Grover was a 17-year old juvenile at the time of her arrest in April 2021 by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Prosecutors said she used her mother’s credentials to access the Escambia County School District’s FOCUS system to access the confidential information of hundreds of students at Tate High School.  They say she then used the personal identification information of other students to fraudulently cast votes for Tate homecoming queen.

Grover, now 18, entered a plea of no contest  this week and moved into a pretrial intervention (PTI) program administered by the Florida Department of Corrections.

Upon successful completion of the program, the state will allow Grover to withdraw the plea, and all charges against her with be dismissed. If she fails to complete the PTI program, the case will go directly to sentencing where she will face up to 16 years in state prison.

Under the agreement, she will be required to perform 100 hours of community service with no option of a buyout. She was ordered to pay court costs of $518, prosecution costs of $150 and $53 per month cost of supervision.

There are also a dozen standard terms, including employment or school, stay off and away from drugs and alcohol, no weapons, “follow all household rules”, “live with and obey parent or guardian”, and “show no disrespect to anyone”.

The original agreement, as obtained by NorthEscambia.com, also required Grover to write a “letter of apology to all other participants in the Tate High School Homecoming Court, Tate School and the Escambia County School District”, but that condition was removed before it was finalized.

Grover and her mother Laura Carroll, former assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, were charged by FDLE with one count each of felony offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices; felony unlawful use of a two-way communications device, felony criminal use of personally identifiable information, and conspiracy to commit these offenses.

Carroll previously pleaded not guilty and is due on court next week.

Grover won Tate homecoming queen in the fall of 2020, but she was expelled and was stripped of the crown.

Comments

16 Responses to “Details: Former Tate Homecoming Queen Gets Community Service, But She Won’t Have To Say She’s Sorry”

  1. Carola on January 17th, 2022 10:42 pm

    Yo, when she finally grows a conscience, it will eat her alive and it’s going to hit her if she ever grows up. That in itself will have her apologizing for the rest of her life. The
    worst 15 mins of fame you can ever experience.

  2. Vicki on January 17th, 2022 12:01 pm

    Wow! No accountability whatsoever! Not even an apology! I can’t but think of the many other students whose lives and futures have been destroyed because of “petty juvenile crimes” they committed! It’s amazing to me how they attempted to destroy the bright future of the young lady on the Tate HS yearbook staff who placed the school mascot over this Cheater’s photo w/approval from adult staff who in turn tried to make her the scapegoat. The justice system is broken, partial and it stinks!

  3. Matchbox on January 16th, 2022 10:27 pm

    She should have apologize on her own without it having to be in her agreement…the fact that she didn’t just goes to show exactly what kind of person she is

  4. bob c on January 16th, 2022 3:29 pm

    When this mess was first revealed there was talk of this Emily Grover bragging to her friends that she was using her mom’s school district account and password to get into other kid’s very private demographic data.
    Things like SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS, Date of Birth, Parent Name, Address, Phones, all the sort of information that the criminals use to hack into your, our, accounts online and access bank accounts and other private sensitive information. She also had talked about kids grades, GPA, class standing, and said she could also CHANGE GRADES of her own or other kids — UP or DOWN with the power of mom’s password and access to ALL Student accounts.
    How in the World can this young woman be patted on her uncrowned head and told to be good in the future with barely any sort of repercussions for her WRONG DOING?
    Y’all this is not just about the Homecoming Queen thing, it is also about her getting into maybe Your Kid’s Private Data….
    Cannot believe that the lawyers have bargained her down to nearly nothing.

  5. SFB on January 16th, 2022 10:02 am

    Aside from giving herself the votes to become Homecoming Queen, the more grievous actions were that she accessed Education, Health and Personal records of students and families.

  6. Autism Mom on January 16th, 2022 6:57 am

    @Adam…It is crazy that you think this girl will wake up and be a law-abiding citizen. Highly likely not. She is inpulsive, irresponsible, and entitled. How will she learn if she was not taught? She grew up without boundaries. Unfortunately the civil boundaries/consequences weren’t hard enough on her either. Leave her alone…? She is in this mess due to her own greed.

  7. David on January 16th, 2022 12:02 am

    We need to eliminate these kinds of sweetheart deals for crimes. We should always prosecute when the elements of the crime are met.

  8. Adam on January 15th, 2022 1:40 pm

    Everyone deserves a second chance. How do you people know so much about what she might do. She did a juvenile petty crime. She is/was a kid. She just might turn out to be a descent law abiding tax paying adult. Leave her alone. Also, no, I do not know her or her mother.

  9. Randy on January 15th, 2022 1:39 pm

    In the grand scheme being a Homecoming Queen is not that big of a deal later in life. It won’t be but a couple of years down the road when she realizes that she threw her future away. Her mother needs to be held heavily responsible for being such an awful role model. Maybe karma will catch up to both of them.

  10. JTV on January 15th, 2022 1:22 pm

    Princess Swindler gets a pass. Shame on the lazy DA for not getting the apology. Typical DA work.

  11. paul on January 15th, 2022 11:05 am

    that is on her conscience, and clearly shows her lack of moral character….

  12. KP on January 15th, 2022 10:29 am

    Yet another spoiled brat. The scary thing is that this is our future. No discipline, no morals, no parental guidance since her mother is equally as guilty.

  13. Good grief on January 15th, 2022 10:08 am

    We’ll be reading about her again in the future. She’s learned nothing. I’m sure they’ll make her “community service” fun.

  14. Bama89 on January 15th, 2022 9:20 am

    Why should the girl be forced to say “I’m sorry”?
    We don’t teach kids to be sorry or to be ashamed of what they did in these situations, or at least some of us don’t. Her mommy or daddy most likely paid all of her fees. I’ve heard a lot about different races being treated different, I believe we should also teach/learn how there are times that kids/adults with a little money get treated different as well.
    It doesn’t seem like this ones’ mother would want to see her poor baby’s ego shrink by her having to say “sorry”
    When you run into a person in public that’s a real SNOT, remember, it’s situations like these that build those wonderful people into the people they are!

  15. James on January 15th, 2022 8:37 am

    Obey parent or guardian? Isn’t that what partially led to this entire fiasco to begin with? SMH

  16. Jr on January 15th, 2022 7:03 am

    Well well well…poor little Emily chose NOT to apologize to the ones she cheated… it’s all good because by taking this agreement you have already admitted you are guilty of the charges in front of you. After watching the interview, and the “entitled” attitude of her snd her momma, it’s apparent to us all you are nothing more than a spoiled individual. Yes, I wish you the best in getting these things done. But, just because you complete these activities of this pre trial release doesn’t mean that you didn’t commit this crime of STUPIDITY, it just means you admitted guilt and the State gave you a way to go on with your life. You should of offered the apology to those you cheated but not everyone was raised right with care, morals and/or respect.