Former Miami-Dade County school board member Lubby Navarro received a prison sentence after pleading guilty to using as much as $100,000 in district funds for personal — and often lavish — expenses.
Authorities arrested Navarro in 2024 and charged her with organized fraud and grand theft. Prosecutors alleged she used a district credit card to cover extravagant personal purchases, including vacations and shopping sprees for herself and others.
On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. After serving her time, Navarro will remain on probation for three years and will be barred from holding public office. She must also repay the money she took.
In court, Navarro apologized to the students of Miami-Dade County Public Schools and to her fellow board members. The plea agreement required the public apology.
“It is a day that I never thought would be coming in my life,” Navarro said, according to the Miami Herald. “…I just accepted full responsibility for my actions in this case.”
According to the investigation conducted by the office of Miami-Dade Inspector General Felix Jimenez and the office of the county’s State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, Navarro avoided detection by “doctoring” receipts, using white-out to remove her name, and offering explanations for the purchases to district staff.
In a statement, Navarro’s attorney, Benedict Kuehne, said she accepts responsibility for harming the education of Miami-Dade County’s students.
“She understands that, at a time of severe personal stress in her life and her family, she made very bad decisions that undermined her lifetime of service to the public and her many good works,” the statement reads. It described the theft of the funds as “coping mechanisms” and added that now “she is suffering the consequences of her bad decisions.”
“She humbly asks the community to understand her lifetime of good works, and allow her to return to a life of doing good for others when she completes her sentence.”
Navarro made a restitution payment of $5,000 to the school board on Tuesday. Sixty days after her release from prison, she will be required to begin making payments of at least $500 per month until the full amount of $101,109.47 is repaid.
The alleged purchases included clothing, home appliances, and beauty products, along with trips to the Dominican Republic, Las Vegas, and Disney World.
Navarro, who then-Governor Rick Scott appointed to the school board in 2015, allegedly continued misusing public funds without detection, investigators said, until she resigned from her position in December 2022.
“Public officials are in positions of authority and trust to ensure the safety and the quality of life for those who live in our community, not to utilize public monies for their personal benefit,” said Fernandez Rundle in a statement.
Inspector General Jimenez also criticized Navarro’s actions, saying the case demonstrates that authorities will hold public servants accountable when they violate public trust. He said the sentencing reflects the seriousness of the findings from the Inspector General’s investigation.
“I am pleased to note that in response to this matter, the School Board moved swiftly to implement strengthened financial controls, enhanced oversight of purchasing and travel card usage, and improved auditing procedures to prevent similar abuses of public resources,” Jimenez said in a statement.
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