'It’s a serious crime': Moms for Liberty school board hopeful urges police to probe and arrest librarian
A Florida woman is calling for police to investigate and arrest a librarian over a young adult novel, Miami New Times reports.
Per the report, right-wing group Moms for Liberty member Jennifer Tapley, a 2024 Santa Rosa County school board candidate, "tells officers that a school librarian kept the contested literature on the shelves at Jay High School despite complaints about its content."
In body cam footage from October 25, which Popular Information journalist Jedd Legum obtained and published to YouTube, Tapley can be seen talking to an officer in the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office lobby saying, "The governor says this is child pornography. It's a serious crime...just as serious as if I handed a Playboy to her right now, right here, in front of you," as she points to a girl standing next to her.
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The newspaper notes "according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office report obtained by Legum through a public records request, the sheriff's office quickly referred Tapley's report to the Santa Rosa County School District before closing its case."
In the video, the officer can also be seen exiting the sheriff's office after engaging with Lapley, and then speaking with a fellow officer in the parking lot, telling him, "Now look at this law.... It's not our thing, it's a school district thing. They're saying that a crime has been committed...is being committed in all of these schools."
The other officer then brushes off the claim with a smirk.
According to the report, "HB 1069, a 2023 Florida law cited by Tapley in her meeting with deputies, requires public schools to remove a book within five days of receiving a challenge if the challenger claims the book has pornographic or sexual content. The book has to stay out of circulation until the challenge is resolved."
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Miami New Times reports:
The book in question is Storm and Fury, a popular young adult novel by Jennifer L. Armentrout that features an 18-year-old main character and a battle between gargoyles and demons. It includes several passages with sexual themes, including one makeout session that almost escalates to sex. Barnes and Noble recommends the book for readers 14 to 18. While the school district’s website has a list of challenged books, Legum notes that he did not locate Storm and Fury among them.
The newspaper notes, "As previously reported by New Times, Florida was recently named the number one state in the country for school book bans."
Watch the video below or at this link.
Members of Moms for Liberty in Florida report Librarians to Police youtu.be
Miami New Times' full report is available at this link.
