Ex-Miami-Dade School Board member Lubby Navarro released from jail, under house arrest
MIAMI — Former Miami-Dade School Board member Lubby Navarro was released from jail on Saturday, her attorney told CBS News Miami, and is now under house arrest.
Navarro was arrested on Thursday for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the district and using those funds to purchase personal expenses and travel.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference following Navarro's arrest that her bond had been set at $2 million and that she would be facing between three to 55 years in prison if convicted of her grand theft and fraud charges. On Friday, her attorney Ben Kuehne was able to lower her bond to $100,000.
Kuehne also told CBS News Miami that he will fight the charges against Navarro and expects his client to be vindicated during her status hearing on Wednesday.
According to a 91-page criminal complaint that Rundle summarized to the media, Navarro was snared in a probe relating to her improper use of a school board-issued credit card -- also known as a P Card -- to cover several thousands of dollars of her expenses.
The alleged misuse came to light after Navarro resigned from her post in December 2022, just a day before a new Florida law prohibited elected officials from working as lobbyists went into effect.
Instead of reconciling credit card charges, which is required by officials who have the cards, Navarro left the school system, which resulted in the superintendent's chief of staff and chief financial officer examining her credit card purchases.
Rundle said the school district administrators discovered the improper transactions during their review and initiated an investigation.
According to Rundle, the misuse of the credit card ranged from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 21, 2022, but likely included additional improper spending during other times.
Rundle said the criminal investigation found that Navarro allegedly:
- Spent over $92,000 on unauthorized purchases like appliances, electronics, clothing, food, health-and-beauty products and gift cards.
- Used her P Card to pay for at least $9,000 in travel expenses for airline tickets, hotel stays,, meals, car rentals, a trip with her mother to the Dominican Republic and a trip to Las Vegas with her then-boyfriend.