A mother and her teenage daughter in Pensacola, Florida, have been arrested after they hacked a school's computer system and rigged a homecoming queen election, The Independent reported Wednesday.
Laura Rose Carroll, an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School, is accused of using her credentials to access the Escambia County School District database to cast fake votes for her daughter - who attended Tate High School, also in the district.
Carroll, 50, allegedly cast 246 votes for Homecoming Court, making her daughter the homecoming queen, The Hill reported.
Her 17-year-old daughter was taken into custody at the Escambia Regional Juvenile Detention Center, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.
Carroll and her daughter were charged with unlawful use of a two-way communications device and criminal use of personally identifiable information, according to the Independent.
Carroll has been suspended and the daughter expelled, NBC News reported.
"Agents uncovered evidence of illegal access to (the database) linked to Carroll's mobile phone as well as computers (at) their residence," the department said.
Students told authorities the daughter bragged about using her mother's account to alter the election, according to a statement.
"She looked up all of our group of friends' grades and made comments about how she could find out our test scores," a student told investigators.
Arrest records said Carroll's account improperly accessed 372 student records over the past 18 months.
