Who is Jennifer Tapley? Florida mom calls police on librarian over popular young adult book

Publish date: 2024-04-18

After Jennifer Tapley called the police on librarians over what she thought was inappropriate, a lot of people have been searching for information about the woman.

In this report, we are going to look into the details of what Jennifer Tapley did, what it means, and what the situation is at the moment after her report.

What Did Jennifer Tapley Do?

A woman from Florida who is a candidate for her local school board is accused of calling the police on two school librarians because she thought a book in a popular young adult fantasy series was similar to “Playboy.”

In a call to the local sheriff’s office on October 25, Jennifer Tapley, a member of Moms for Liberty’s Santa Rosa County branch, stated, “I have some evidence a crime was committed—pornography given to a minor at a school.”

“And I would like to make a report with somebody and turn over the evidence,” she said in an audio recording of the phone call obtained by the Popular Information Substack.

According to reports, Jennifer Tapley informed the dispatcher that she was “afraid of people getting mad at me for doing this” and that she wished to remain anonymous in the report’s public records.

However, she and another Moms for Liberty member, Tom Gurski, were captured on body camera footage of a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy informing him that a 17-year-old minor had checked out Jennifer L. Armentrout’s book “Storm and Fury” from a nearby high school, thereby committing a “felony.”

“The only reason we are here: A crime is being committed,” Gurski could be seen telling the officers. “It’s a third-degree felony, and we’ve got the evidence.”

He added that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “says this is child pornography. It’s a serious crime.”

At that point, Tapley adds: “It’s just as serious as if I handed a ‘Playboy’ to [my child] right now.”

The head librarian at Santa Rosa County schools, Ruth Witter, was then singled out by Jennifer Tapley, who claimed to be a member of the Stop Moms for Liberty Group, which Tapley said had made “death threats” against Moms for Liberty members.

She went on to say that Witter had made posts in the Emerald Coast SWEEP Facebook group, which is a local branch of Red, Wine, and Blue, a national organization that Tapley referred to as “a very liberal activist group of people fighting for abortion rights” and that is against removing books from public school libraries.

The mother of one said, “depends on if there’s intent,” to a question from Popular Information about whether she would support the librarian being tried criminally.

Jennifer Tapley Doesn’t Want Anybody’s Life Ruined

Jennifer Tapley expressed her hope that the sheriff would warn the librarians, “You can’t do this,” and “If you continue to do this, then there would be charges.”

Yet she went on to say that she “didn’t really want to see anybody’s life ruined.”

During the summer, Tapley said she was “scrolling through Facebook” when she came across a “video of a mom reading a book” that she found to be “really disgusting.”

Later, she found out that her neighborhood had a Moms for Liberty branch, and she joined, according to Popular Information.

Who Is Jennifer Tapley?

Jennifer Tapley is a Florida mother running for her local school board. She became a popular name after she called the police on a pair of school librarians over a book in a bestselling young adult fantasy series, which she compared to a copy of “Playboy.”

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