MIAMI – Former Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Lubby Navarro spent a second night in jail, but was released Saturday night after posting bond following her arrest on grand theft and fraud charges Thursday.
A judge ordered a reduction in her bond during a Friday morning court hearing. Navarro wasn’t physically present, but her attorney, Ben Kuehne, was.
Navarro, 49, is accused of spending more than $100,000 on personal expenses using her district-issued credit cards in 2022, just before she resigned from the board over a new state law prohibiting lobbyists from holding elected positions.
Read more details — including the full arrest warrant — here.
Those purchases, prosecutors said, ranged from everything from food, to household goods and vacations, to the bizarre: two silicone pregnancy bellies, all in an effort to win her then-boyfriend back.
A judge Thursday set Navarro’s bond at $2 million. On Friday, another judge reduced it to $100,000.
WATCH: Lubby Navarro’s attorney speaks to local media outlets
“Judge (Carlos) Lopez understood that the purpose of bond is to make sure that somebody, especially a community servant, like Lubby Navarro, is here to defend the case,” Kuehne said. “And he found that the conditions were ripe to set a bond that we had hoped would have been set yesterday.”
Kuehne added, “he also was attentive to the concerns of staying in jail for somebody who should not be in jail and authorized her release today. We expect that to happen this afternoon.”
But Navarro wasn’t released Friday afternoon, and instead spent a second night in jail.
Kuehne said his client will be vindicated in the end.
“I respect that the state has spent 92 pages explaining its case,” Kuehne said. “If its case takes 92 pages to explain, I can only suggest that it demonstrates that there is a lot more to this case than meets the eye.”
Before being released, Navarro had to prove, through a financial analysis, that her bond money was acquired through legitimate means. She also had to surrender her passport.
Related: ‘Go ask her’: Lubby Navarro’s ex mum on alleged ill-gotten goods at his Broward juice bar
Navarro was appointed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott and became a darling on the board among local conservatives before her resignation.
She is currently the director of Government Affairs for the Memorial Healthcare System, part of the South Broward Hospital District.
Navarro was placed on unpaid leave from that position following her arrest, officials said.
In court, we learned she was making $215,000 per year from that job.
July 2022 financial records also showed Navarro was making $46,000 from the school board and $42,000 from the Jorge Mas Canosa Freedom Foundation.
Her net worth was almost $200,000.