Lubby Navarro bond lowered but glitch over monitoring device delays jail release of ex-Miami-Dade School Board member
MIAMI -- Former Miami-Dade School Board member Lubby Navarro was expected to spend another night in the county jail following her arrest for alleged stealing from the district.
Although her attorney was able to get her $2 million bond reduced to $100,000 on Friday, the former board vice chair was ordered to remain on house arrest, which requires that she be fitted with a GPS tracking device.
A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Correction Department said the fitting wouldn't occur until Saturday at the earliest.
Navarro, 49, was not present during her bond hearing, but the allegations against her took center stage as state prosecutors once again outlined the theft charges against her
Prosecutors have said Navarro used her district-issued credit cards for her personal expenses and travel excursions to the Dominican Republic with her mother and Las Vegas with a former boyfriend.
"This defendant betrayed the public trust," said Assistant State Attorney Annette Rasco. "She spent over $100,000 in public funds. She was amassing wealth because when normal people go to buy groceries they use their salary. She was using money from the school board."
An attorney for Navarro disputed the state's allegations.
"There's a lot more to this case," said her attorney Ben Kuehne. "Ms. Navarro is not a public servant but will be exonerated."
Navarro is a paid lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District, which put her on unpaid leave following her arrest.
She vacated her board seat at the end of 2022 after a new state law kicked in prohibiting lobbyists from serving in elected positions.
When the bills came due in 2023 for her district-issued card, school administrators grew suspicious of expenses that included refrigerators, Halloween costumes and several gift cards. District officials then alerted investigators.
Prosecutors wondered why Navarro did what she did considering that she was earning a good living.
"She was making $179,000 a year plus $36,000 in bonuses (and) her school board job paid $46,000," Rasco said.
Her lawyer said all of that will be explained, eventually.
Navarro is allowed to leave jail at least until Tuesday when her lawyer will have to convince the court that her bond money is legitimate
" The bond money is coming from her home she's owned many years," Kuehne said. "It's homesteaded."
