WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) – Former Miami-Dade School Board member Lubby Navarro appeared in court Friday for a bond hearing review after being arrested on public corruption charges, after, police said, she swindled the school district out of more than $100,000.
Navarro was facing a $2 million bond, which was lowered to $100,000.
“The clerk will grant the motion to modify. The total bond will be $100,000,” said Judge Carlos Lopez.
During Navarro’s virtual court appearance for her bond review hearing, her lawyer told the judge that she has strong ties to the county.
“That the purpose of bond is to make sure that somebody, especially community servants like Lubby Navarro, is here to defend the case, and he found that the conditions were right to set a bond that we had hoped would have been set yesterday,” Navarro’s attorney said.
The state was quick to question Navarro’s bond modification.
“I’m concerned for risk of flight, and the reason I was detailing all of this wealth, is because she has the means to flee,” said Assistant State Attorney Annette Rasco. “She travels frequently, she has money that’s been saved up where she can flee. There’s a higher risk of flight when you’re paying your bond with stolen money, money that’s not yours. It’s worth less to a person than money that was legitimately earned.”
It was all money on the mind for Navarro.
A state attorney and inspector general’s joint investigation led up to Navarro’s Thursday morning arrest.
According to the state attorney, Navarro used more than $100,000 of district money for her own personal use.
“It went for air travel, it went for hotels, meals, car rentals and entertainment for herself, her friends and her family members,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools issues each of its nine school board members a “P-Card” to purchase small items. Those items don’t usually amount to $92,047.92 over the course of a year.
Charges provided by Rundle showed around $42,0000 were put onto gift cards.
“You’ll see the next graphic up there is a photograph of Navarro at Walmart,” Rundle said,
The “P-Card” was used for personal shopping to places like Brandsmart USA, Home Depot, Amazon and T-Mobile.
Board members are also issued a travel card, which Navarro spent a little over $9,000 on vacations.
Rundle said that she treated her mother to a trip to the Dominican Republic and her boyfriend at the time to a vacation in Las Vegas. Navarro also paid for a full trip to Disney for her boyfriend and his family.
In addition to her bond being modified, the judge decided that Navarro had to surrender her passport. She has also been placed on Level 1 house arrest and must also provide a source of funds for her bond, which her attorney said is the house that she’s owned for a long time.
Navarro’s attorney told 7News that she will be released on Friday.
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