A longtime Everglades scientist is preparing to start a jail sentence in July in the latest chapter of a high-profile legal drama that has roiled Florida’s conservation community.
A judge ordered scientist Tom Van Lent to surrender to a Miami court July 17 to serve a 10-day jail sentence after the court found him guilty of criminal contempt.
The jail sentence is part of a legal dispute that dates back to 2022, when the Everglades Foundation sued Van Lent, its former scientist of 17 years, alleging that he had swiped confidential information and “trade secrets” and destroyed data belonging to the foundation when he left the group.
Van Lent and his allies have argued that the lawsuit was an attempt to punish him after he clashed with the foundation on Everglades restoration and posted what the foundation referred to as a “disparaging tweet” about the group on his way out the door.
