Newly released police interviews in Wakulla 'doxxing' case reveal more about the investigation
The Wakulla County Sheriff's Office has released videos of police interviews with County Commissioner Mike Kemp, local resident Becky Whaley and sheriff's Dep. Donald Newsome.
Newly released videos from the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office shed more light on an investigation into an alleged scheme to unmask an anonymous local government critic online.
The Panhandle Press has obtained videos of detectives questioning former County Commissioner Mike Kemp, local resident Becky Whaley and sheriff’s Dep. Donald Newsome.
In early May, Whaley posted the name, address, birth date and voter registration number of a random local resident — whose name has been redacted from court records under Marsy’s Law — because she believed he was behind the anonymous account “Thunder Lightening” [sic].
But she identified the wrong person.
In early May, Whaley posted a screenshot of the victim’s voter information on a Facebook group called Wakulla Citizens, while she was volunteering as one of the page’s administrators.
Detectives say County Commissioner Ralph Thomas downloaded the victim’s voter information card from a website called webElect and gave it to Kemp, who then shared it with Whaley.
Kemp and Whaley are each facing a third-degree felony charge of publishing personal information online in an effort to harass someone.
Kemp, who stepped down last month after losing his reelection bid in August, is also facing a more serious, second-degree felony charge of witness tampering.
Both defendants are expected to appear in front of Judge J. Layne Smith for arraignment on Jan. 9 after the judge postponed their plea hearings for a second time.
Newsome, who allegedly helped Kemp track down the name of the person they believed was Thunder Lightening, is facing a third-degree felony charge of unauthorized access to a computer system or electronic device. He has pleaded not guilty, and a review hearing has been postponed for Feb. 6.
Thomas was never interviewed by police and isn’t facing criminal charges.
Whaley told police that she never ‘harassed’ anyone with doxxing post
Whaley was interviewed by detectives twice with her attorney David Kemp, who’s not related to Commissioner Mike Kemp, at the sheriff’s office.
During Whaley’s first interview, she expressed surprise that she was under investigation. “Are you telling me this is a felony or a misdemeanor?” she asked. “I’m a little shocked I’m here.”
Whaley, who volunteers for multiple local charities, has no prior criminal record. “I’ve never even had a speeding ticket,” she told police.
Detective Chris Ormerod told Whaley that the victim and his wife were “adamant” about pursuing charges if the state attorney’s office found that she had broken the law by posting their address and other personal information online.
“I wish he would have accepted my apology,” said Whaley, who was referring to the victim. “I never had any intention of hurting anybody.”
Whaley told police that she spoke with the victim over the phone after the post was deleted. “He said, ‘Well if you got that information, why didn’t you just pick up the phone and call me to verify it’s me?’” Whaley said. “He didn’t give me any slack, none whatsoever.”
“I just said ‘Yessir, yessir. I’m sorry, sir,’” she added. “That’s all I could say.”
She also denied that she had harassed the victim by posting their information online. “I haven't harassed that man,” she said. “There's nothing harassing in that post.”
Whaley told police that she set out to “unmask” Thunder Lightening, who’s been identified as 70-year-old Crawfordville resident Lonnie Walton, after he called her “pro-commissioner,” “pro-growth” and “pro-law enforcement.”
“He attacked me in a way that I thought was personal,” she said.
When asked who gave her the information that she posted online, she at first refused to answer, then wrote the name “Mike Kemp” on a piece of paper.
Walton had used his account Thunder Lightening to criticize actions taken by county commissioners, including Kemp and County Commissioner Ralph Thomas.
Detectives obtained text messages between Kemp and Whaley in which he sent her the voter information card after she said she planned to “bust him out.”
During Whaley’s second interview, she again denied that she and Kemp wanted to harass or antagonize the owner of the Thunder Lightening account and said that she only wanted people to know who he was.
“Come out from behind the keyboard,” she said. “That was the only reason.”
Police say Kemp lied about his role in the doxxing incident
Kemp was questioned once by detectives and had his attorney Stephen Webster present during the interview.
Like Whaley, Kemp expressed surprise that he was under criminal investigation, and advised officers that there was no state law against doxxing.
When officers explained that he was under investigation for a different charge involving using personal information to harass someone, he defended himself.
“It was never done for ill intent,” Kemp said. “Posting one time is not harassment.”
Police say text messages between Whaley and Kemp indicate that he was aware that she was going to post the voter information to Facebook, but he denied this during the interview.
“Be honest with you, no, I did not think she would post that,” Kemp continued. “No, I did not, no, not in a million years. That actually really shocked me.”
Police say they believe Kemp was lying about not knowing that Whaley planned to post the information.
When asked who gave him the voter information, Kemp refused to name Commissioner Ralph Thomas.
“I prefer not to get anybody else involved in it.”
Kemp asked his former subordinate to help him track down the victim’s name
Police say Kemp got the victim’s name from Dep. Donald Newsome, who looked up an incident report that the victim had previously made about a white pickup truck.
Kemp asked Newsome for the name of the person who’d made the report after he saw that Thunder Lightening had complained about the same truck on Facebook and said he’d filed a report with the sheriff’s office.
But Newsome pulled the wrong incident report, which led Kemp to misidentify Thunder Lightening as the victim.
During Newsome’s interview with police, he denied recognizing the name “Thunder Lightening” and said he believed Kemp was asking him for the name of the person who filed a report about a white pickup truck because he wanted to help a resident.
“I don't know any political problems that Mike Kemp’s having with his people or anything like this,” Newsome told police. “I thought I was doing a favor — a low-end favor — something that wouldn't be against policy.”
Before Kemp served on the county commission, he worked in the sheriff’s office, where he climbed the ranks to captain. Newsome told police that he’d worked under Kemp and that he’s known him for about 25 years.
“He was my sergeant here, he was my lieutenant here, he was my captain here,” Newsome explained to detectives. “We've been friends for a long time.”
Body cam footage shows Kemp drove past the victim’s house when they made the complaint
Detectives questioned Newsome about calls that took place between him and Kemp the morning that officers responded to the doxxing victim’s home to take statements.
At approximately 8:34 a.m., the two spoke on the phone for just over five minutes, after Newsome had logged into the Computer Assisted Dispatch or CAD system which could’ve shown him that an officer was at the victim’s house, detectives explained.
Newsome told officers that he was checking on an incident at Kemp’s request and added that he doesn’t remember informing Kemp about the active call to the victim’s house at that time.
About ten minutes later — at 8:45 a.m. — Kemp is captured on body cam footage driving by the victim’s house while an officer is standing outside.
“Does it not seem strange to you that on an off-day, Commissioner Kemp would call you and ask you to do things for him?” asked Detective Ormerod, during the interview.
“I see him respond to a lot of stuff on Facebook where he tells people ‘Hey, call me, I’ll look into that for you,’” Newsome explained. “I thought that’s what he was doing.”
During the latter part of the interview, Newsome told officers he didn’t understand why he was under investigation.
“You have put the shadow of conspiracy across this entire sheriff’s office,” Ormerod informed Newsome. “There have been other employees have been subject to interrogation, who otherwise shouldn’t have been, because of this.”