Former Florida probation officer charged with 113 felonies

A former Florida juvenile probation officer has been arrested and charged with more than 100 felonies for allegedly using her continued access to a sensitive state database to leak confidential information to a drug trafficking organization. Crystal Lawson, 32, was booked into the Orange County Jail on June 18 on 113 felony counts of unauthorized computer access.

According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Lawson, who was hired by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice in February 2022, retained her credentials to the Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS) after she was terminated later that year following an arrest for battery. Investigators allege that between January and May of this year, she used that access 106 times to search for active, unserved arrest warrants and identify codefendants connected to a specific drug trafficking organization. She then allegedly leaked that information to members and associates of the group.

Officials stated that Lawson’s actions compromised ongoing investigations, leading to lost evidence, unrecovered assets, and at least one suspect fleeing to avoid capture, though that individual was later apprehended. In a social media...