What did Lubby Navarro do? Charges explored as former Miami-Dade County Board member is arrested

On January 11, 2024, Lubby Navarro, a former board member of Miami-Dade Public Schools, was taken into police custody after being accused of using her work-issued credit card for personal luxurious expenses, as per CBS News.

The news outlet also reported that Lubby Navarro was charged with two counts of grand theft auto and two counts of fraud and was admitted into the Miami-Dade County Jail.

If convicted, Lubby Navarro, who previously represented Florida’s District 7, would face between 3 to 55 years of jail time. Sources cite that her bail has been set at $2 million. So far, the accused has pleaded not guilty.

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Lubby Navarro has been accused of misusing state-issued credit card

According to Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who is overseeing the Lubby Navarro case, the accused misused the state-issued credit card from January 1, 2022, to December 21, 2022. The card was originally meant for work-related expenses and tours.

Her spending included $92,000 on unauthorized purchases of gadgets, kitchen appliances, home electronics, designer clothes, exotic food, luxury health and beauty products, and gift cards, among others, from places like Walmart, Office Depot, and Brandsmart.

Lubby Navarro also used her credit card (called the P Card) on lavish trips, including airline fares, hotel accommodations, meals, car rentals, and more worth $9000. As per NBC Miami, she took luxurious vacations to the Dominican Republic with her mother, Las Vegas with her former boyfriend, and Disneyland with her family.

The 49-year-old alleged scammer had been the vice chair of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Board since February 2023 and previously worked in the county school system since 2002.

However, she abruptly resigned in late December 2022 without settling the credit card charges, which aroused the suspicion of the superintendent’s chief of staff and chief financial officer. Upon investigation, they realized that Lubby Navarro spent nearly $100,000 using her school-board-issued P card to cover her personal and lavish expenses.

Finally, on Thursday, after over a year of review and investigation, she was arrested and booked into Miami-Dade County Jail for four felony counts: two of grand theft auto and two of fraud. A 91-page-long complaint has also been filed against her, as reported by CBS News.

The evidence includes not just the credit card statements but also images of Lubby Navarro exiting luxurious retailers with shopping carts full of expensive items, paid by her P Card.

If proven guilty, Navarro may be facing a prison sentence between 3 to 55 years, and her current bond is set at $2 million. In a written statement to the press, her lawyer, Benedict P. Kuehne, said that Navarro is innocent and wants to see through the case in court.

“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,” it added.

Meanwhile, State Attorney Rundle accused Lubby Navarro of stealing from the school system and, in turn, from the kids and their chance at a better future. Miami-Date County Public Schools refused to comment on the matter, citing that it was “an active, open matter.” They added that they, however, will “fully cooperate” with law enforcement to resolve the matter at the earliest.

It is interesting to note that at the time of her arrest, Navarro was serving as the director of government affairs for the Memorial Healthcare System.

In fact, she resigned from the school board one day before Florida ruled that no elected official (such as her in the role of the school board’s vice chair) could serve as a lobbyist. Back then, she was a registered lobbyist for the South Broward Hospital District, as per Local 10.