How a Fugitive Florida Deputy Sheriff Became a Kremlin Disinformation Impresario

During a routine scan of Russian disinformation in late November 2023, my NewsGuard colleagues and I stumbled upon a site called DCWeekly. It branded itself as "your definitive hub for the freshest updates and in-depth insights into Washington, D.C.'s political scene."

As a journalist based in Washington who scrutinizes the credibility of news outlets as a profession, I was familiar with the landscape of trusted local publications in the area. DCWeekly did not appear to be one of them.

I first noticed the site when it published an article reporting that the Ukrainian infantry military unit Azov Battalion was recruiting in France. It carried the byline "Jessica Devlin," who was described as a "distinguished and highly acclaimed journalist." DCWeekly had this scoop, too: The U.S. had bought a mansion for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Vero Beach, Florida.

Everything about the website and these articles was a red flag: The site presented itself as a credible new local news source yet was propagating fabricated narratives that smelled of Russian influence.