Mom, Daughter Rigged Homecoming Court Vote; Face Charges: Police

CANTONMENT, FL — A Florida mother and her daughter are facing felony charges after police said the pair illegally accessed student school records to cast dozens of fraudulent votes in a high school homecoming court election.

Laura Rose Carroll, 50, and her 17-year-old daughter, a senior at Tate High School in Cantonment, were arrested Monday, according to Florida Department of Law Enforcement documents.

Authorities allege that Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School in Pensacola, and her daughter illegally accessed student accounts through FOCUS, the district's student information system.

As a school administrator, Carroll had district-level access to the program as well as all student accounts, arrest documents said.

The investigation into the pair started in November 2020 after Escambia County district officials contacted authorities to report hundreds of student FOCUS account had been accessed illegally.

According to a report by The Washington Post, the district became aware of the issue after Election Runner, the software company used to conduct Tate High School's homecoming court election, flagged dozens of fraudulent votes during the two days students could cast ballots.

According to arrest documents, 117 votes originated from the same IP address within a short period. Investigators later linked the IP address to Carroll's cell phone as well as several computers in their home, authorities said.

The investigation found that since August 2019, Carroll’s FOCUS account accessed 372 high school records — 339 of which were for Tate High School students, authorities said.

On Oct. 30, 2020, Emily Grover was named Tate High School's 2020 homecoming queen.

Witnesses later told authorities the homecoming queen had "bragged for years" about using her mother's FOCUS account to cast votes and access other student information.

“She looks up all of our group of friends grades and makes comments about how she can find our test scores all the time,” one student wrote, according to the Post report.

“I recall times that she logged onto her mom’s 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 student said.

Several media outlets, including The New York Times, identified Grover as Carroll's daughter, citing arrest affidavits.

When reached by CNN, a man identifying himself as Carroll's husband, said, "We have no comment right now. Our lawyers told us not to speak and we will have our day in court."

Carroll and her daughter are facing one felony count each of offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks, and electronic devices; unlawful use of a two-way communications device; criminal use of personally identifiable information; and conspiracy to commit these offenses, a misdemeanor charge.