TODAY’S TALKER

Mom, daughter accused of hacking homecoming vote

In a sparkling silver dress, the homecoming queen at J. M. Tate High School in Cantonment, Fla., stood on the football fifield on a brisk evening in late October to accept her crown.

But among the students, whispers had already begun spreading about her victory. The homecoming queen had bragged for years about abusing the access her mother had to student records as an assistant principal in the same school system, witnesses later told investigators.

Now, witnesses said, she was boasting about using the same access to cast hundreds of ballots in her own election.

On Monday, the 17- year- old senior and her mother, Laura Rose Carroll, 50, were arrested and charged with fraudulently accessing confifidential student information, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Carroll could not be reached for comment.

Carroll’s daughter was expelled from Tate High School, according to arrest documents. She was taken to Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center on Monday. Carroll was suspended from her job, the Pensacola News Journal reported. She was booked at Escambia County Jail on Monday and released after posting a $ 6,000 bond, according to jail records.

Carroll’s daughter openly used her log- in to access school district records, according to nine written statements from students and teachers provided to investigators. “She looks up all of our group of friends’ grades and makes comments about how she can fifind our test scores all the time,” one student wrote.