MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Former Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Lubby Navarro was arrested Thursday morning.
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Thursday afternoon that Navarro, 49, made about $100,000 worth of unauthorized purchases on her district credit cards for personal purposes, like buying food, groceries, appliances, vacations and more.
Authorities allege that at least two of the items Navarro purchased veered into the bizarre: a pair of “artificial silicone pregnancy bellies.”
According to jail records, Navarro was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 10:35 a.m. on charges of organized fraud of $50,000 or more, organized fraud of $20,000 or less, third-degree grand theft and second-degree grand theft. She was being held on a $2 million bond.
Navarro was appointed to the school board in 2015 by then-Gov. Rick Scott and announced in December 2022 that she would be leaving the school board.
The charges stem from purchases made in 2022, officials said.
Fernandez Rundle said during a news conference Thursday that the investigation began after Navarro resigned.
Watch the full news conference:
While school board members usually reconcile their own credit card statements, her departure meant school board administrators were left to reconcile her cards and they became suspicious about some of her large purchases, Fernandez Rundle said.
Investigators found that she made purchases at stores like Walmart, TJ Maxx, Party City, Office Depot and more, buying items like appliances, beauty products, food, household goods, 178 gift cards and more, Fernandez Rundle said.
“She knew better than to have gone down this very pathetic path,” Fernandez Rundle said.
The allegations are all outlined in a 91-page arrest warrant.
Fernandez Rundle said investigators found some of the purchases, like a commercial-grade refrigerator and a sofa, in her home. Others, Fernandez Rundle said, were found in a storage unit.
Read the arrest warrant:
She is also accused of spending money on personal travel and related expenses, including a trip with her mother to the Dominican Republic and a trip with her then-boyfriend to Las Vegas.
According to the warrant, on her trip to Punta Cana, Navarro spent more than $1,100 in roundtrip airfare on American Airlines for her and her mother under a fare code multiple travel websites list as being business class.
Authorities allege she spent more than $1,200 for American Airlines tickets for her and her boyfriend to fly to Las Vegas. The departing flight is listed under a business class fare code.
During that three-day trip, she made more than $4,300 in charges at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, the warrant states.
According to the warrant, those charges included $501 at the Encore Beach Club, $174 at the Jardin Brunch & Breakfast, $416 at the Sinatra Italian Restaurant, $298 at the Allegro Italian Restaurant, $176.89 at the Eastside Lounge, $229 for in-room dining and $173 at the XS Nightclub.
Fernandez Rundle said Navarro also made purchases for her then-boyfriend’s Hollywood business, Shook Market, which is located at 2613 Stirling Road.
Items bought for her boyfriend’s smoothie business included “Ninja blenders, Breville espresso machines, (a) chest freezer, two wine coolers, fake grass, a Frigidaire refrigerator for drinks” and a $900 Android phone, the warrant states.
According to the warrant, Navarro and her boyfriend went through a bad breakup in August or September of 2022 after he said she became “extremely possessive” and began to follow and harass him via phone calls and online.
She also sent a photo of herself to the man’s mother “showing off a pregnant belly,” authorities said.
But it wasn’t her pregnant belly, or anyone’s for that matter, according to the warrant. It was fake — and the product of two peculiar purchases on her district credit card.
“Subpoenaed documents from Amazon.com revealed that on November 2, 2022, NAVARRO purchased two (2) artificial silicone pregnancy bellies with cotton filling, one reflecting a 2-4 month pregnancy and the other reflecting 3-10 month pregnancy, using her P-Card,” the warrant states.
Authorities said at one point, Navarro drove up to the man’s business and, as she drove away, he went outside to confirm she was pregnant. She was not.
The warrant states Navarro would tell him that “she had taken pills and the baby had died.”
She also bought Apple AirTags at Walmart, using the credit card, for the purposes of stalking him, it states. Navarro, authorities said, also sent him a photo of herself wearing an FBI baseball cap, having claimed she worked for the agency and “knew everything about him.”
Navarro’s resignation from the school board in 2022 came a day after a federal judge made a ruling on a new state law that bans politicians from being lobbyists.
Navarro at the time was a registered lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District.
She is currently the director of Government Affairs for the Memorial Healthcare System.
“We are aware of the developing situation involving our employee and expect to learn more from the State Attorney’s office,” the South Broward Hospital System said in a statement. “Our commitment to maintaining the highest standard of integrity remains unwavering as we determine the facts of the matter. All future actions will be taken in the best interest of the communities we serve.”
Speaking in bond court Thursday, Navarro’s attorney, Ben Kuehne, said she was on unpaid leave from her position with Memorial Healthcare, something the organization later confirmed.
FULL VIDEO: Lubby Navarro appears in Miami-Dade bond court
The school district also released the following statement about Navarro’s arrest: “Miami-Dade County Public Schools has been made aware of the recent arrest of former School Board Member Lubby Navarro. As this remains an active, open matter, we will not be commenting on this situation. We will fully cooperate with law enforcement agencies as necessary.”
Kuehne proclaimed his client’s innocence in a statement to Local 10 News:
"Today, in a brazen disregard for fairness and the Constitution, the State Attorney’s Office engineered the arrest of Lubby Navarro on charges that she mis-used her School Board issued credit card in 2022. Without notice to Ms. Navarro or her counsel, the State Attorney arrested Ms. Navarro at her home and asked a judge to deny her bond release, claiming without evidence that Ms. Navarro might be hiding the purchases made with her School Board credit card. The result is that Ms. Navarro, innocent of these charges, will be required to spend the night in jail before she can appear before the assigned Circuit Judge to make her case for bond release.
Ms. Navarro, an honorable government employee and former Member of the Miami-Dade School Board, has lived her life in service to the community. She has never before been accused of any wrongdoing and was given no opportunity to demonstrate her innocence in advance of her surprise arrest. She was not even provided the routine opportunity to allow her lawyer to surrender her as she fights these allegations.
Ms. Navarro fully intends to prevail in this case. This effort to ruin her well-deserved reputation as an honest, properly motivated community servant will be shown to be unjust. Ms. Navarro looks forward to her complete vindication and her resumption of working for the betterment of the community. Ms. Navarro states without equivocation that she is innocent of wrongdoing and appreciates the many expressions of support and well wishes by those who know her best.”
Benedict Kuehne, Navarro's attorney
Kuehne is well-known for representing current and former South Florida elected officials embroiled in legal trouble. His clients include current Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo and former Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, the former of whom is dealing with fallout from a $63 million civil verdict, while the latter is accused in an ongoing criminal corruption case.
Navarro could spend anywhere between three and 55 years in prison if convicted, Fernandez Rundle said.
Officials said the school district will prioritize audits of purchasing card usage, particularly that of current or former board members and will strengthen checks and balances.