Former Miami-Dade School Board member arrested for making $100,000 worth of personal purchases on district- issued credit card
(Lubby Navarro, booking photo, Image credit: Miami-Dade Department of Corrections)
On January 11, Florida’s State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle along with Miami-Dade Inspector General Felix Jimenez held a press conference announcing the filing of criminal charges against a former Miami-Dade School Board member accused of scandalous behavior. Reportedly, former Miami-Dade School Board member, 49-year-old Lubby Navarro, was arrested yesterday and accused of stealing $100,000 from the Florida school district.
Navarro is now looking at criminal charges that include organized fraud and grand theft.
She is accused of using a school district issued credit card to make personal purchases that included refrigerators, a trip to Disney World, more than $92,000 spent at retail stores like Walmart, Office Depot, Brandsmart and elsewhere on items including appliances, electronics, clothing, health and beauty products, household goods, home furnishings, food, and gift cards, Fernandez Rundle said during yesterday’s press conference.
Surveillance images from Walmart that were released by prosecutors showed Navarro allegedly making some of the illegal purchases, according to NBC News in Miami.
Navarro was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miamai at 10:35 a.m. on Thursday and charged with organized fraud of $50,000 or more, organized fraud of $20,000 or less, third-degree grand theft and second-degree grand theft, per Click Orlando.
She was being detained on a $2 million bond. Also yesterday, Navarro’s attorney, Ben Kuehne, appeared at her courtroom bond hearing to proclaim his client’s innocence.
Navarro was appointed to the school board in 2015. She resigned from her position on December 31, 2022 – and the investigation into her alleged illegal credit card purchases began in January 2023. For more on her scandalous arrest, see the video below.
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Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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