{"id":231381,"date":"2026-04-14T15:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231381\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T15:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T15:46:09","slug":"former-miami-dade-school-board-member-lubby-navarro-headed-to-prison-after-guilty-plea-in-theft-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/231381\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Miami-Dade School Board member Lubby Navarro headed to prison after guilty plea in theft case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI \u2014 Former Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/topic\/Lubby_Navarro\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/topic\/Lubby_Navarro\/\">Lubby Navarro<\/a> is headed to prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/14\/exmiembro-de-la-junta-escolar-de-miami-dade-va-a-prision-tras-declararse-culpable-en-caso-de-robo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/espanol\/2026\/04\/14\/exmiembro-de-la-junta-escolar-de-miami-dade-va-a-prision-tras-declararse-culpable-en-caso-de-robo\/\">Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">As part of a deal with prosecutors, the 51-year-old former elected official pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a third-degree grand theft charge in connection with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2024\/01\/11\/former-miami-dade-school-board-member-lubby-navarro-arrested\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.local10.com\/news\/local\/2024\/01\/11\/former-miami-dade-school-board-member-lubby-navarro-arrested\/\">a 2024 corruption case<\/a> in which authorities accused her of racking up about $100,000 in personal purchases on a district credit card.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Prosecutors alleged Navarro used the official card to buy food, groceries, appliances, vacations and more. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">At least two of the purchases veered into the bizarre: Investigators said she bought a pair of \u201cartificial silicone pregnancy bellies\u201d after a breakup with her boyfriend in an apparent attempt by the then-48-year-old to convince him she was expecting, during a period in which she followed and harassed him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Before the breakup, authorities allege she used the district card to buy items for his Hollywood smoothie business.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">As part of Navarro\u2019s plea, prosecutors agreed to drop an additional grand theft charge, plus two organized fraud charges. Under the agreement, she\u2019s sentenced to spend 14 months in prison followed by probation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">She\u2019ll also have to pay more than $101,000 in restitution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Navarro can\u2019t run for office during her three-year probation term, which can be terminated halfway through for good behavior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Authorities took her into custody immediately after Tuesday\u2019s court hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle issued a statement after the plea Tuesday, saying in part that Navarro has \u201cadmitted her guilt and has accepted her sentence\u201d instead of \u201cseeking to avoid the consequences of her actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cLet there be no doubt that I and my public corruption team of prosecutors and investigators will continue ensuring that our government operates for the people of Miami-Dade County, not for the financial benefit of those holding office or position,\u201d Fernandez Rundle said.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Former Miami-Dade School Board Vice Chair Lubby Navarro is headed to prison. Leer en espa\u00f1ol As&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":{"0":"post-231381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-miami","9":"tag-miami-headlines","10":"tag-miami-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}