A 20-year-old Florida man has been arrested after allegedly hacking into the state’s voter database to change information for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Anthony Steven Guevara of Naples was arrested this week on charges of two felony counts of property crimes and one count of altering voter registration without knowledge or consent, according to multiple media reports.
On Monday, the Republican governor discovered changes to his address when he attempted to early vote at his polling location. When he arrived to the polling location about 3 p.m. Monday, he was informed his primary address in the Florida database had been changed by an unknown person.
The database stated the governor’s new address was on Pretty Lane in West Palm Beach, according to news station NBC-2. According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, DeSantis did not authorize the change in address and immediately contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the incident.
The department of law enforcement reached out to the Supervisor of Elections Office in Leon County and requested the logs for the date and time in which the suspected IP address submitted the request to change the governor’s address.
Investigators found the IP address was subscribed to Rosa Acevedo of Naples. A search warrant was obtained for Acevedo’s address and special agents with FDLE and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office responded to the home, which is located off 19th Avenue SW in Naples. Once there, Guevara was interviewed and explained to special agents how he was able to change the governor’s address.
Guevara told investigators he went to the “Voter Information Lookup” section on the dos.myflorida.com website and entered DeSantis' first name, last name and date of birth.
Investigators did not report the details of how Guevara was able to change DeSantis’ information.
Guevara was arrested and taken to the Collier County Jail, where he remains under $5,000 bond.
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