OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The mayor of Kissimmee, Florida was arrested Wednesday after an internal city investigation accused her of fraud and theft charges.<\/p>\n
Action News Jax\u2019s Orlando station, WFTV<\/a> was the only media outlet there when law enforcement pulled Mayor Jackie Espinosa over shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday as she drove away from her home.<\/p>\n Officers asked her to step out of the vehicle, placed her in handcuffs, and booked her into into the Osceola County Jail. <\/p>\n Espinosa faces one count of grand theft involving $20,000 to $100,000, a second-degree felony, and one count of organized scheme to defraud involving $50,000 or more, a first-degree felony.<\/p>\n At the center of the city\u2019s internal investigation is Kissimmee\u2019s \u201cBusiness Boost 2.0\u2033 program, according to a WFTV report Wednesday. Prosecutors allege Espinosa helped create the program and then applied alongside immediate family members for grants benefiting three businesses they owned or controlled.<\/p>\n According to the arrest affidavit, Adanse LLC received $20,000; Kissimmee Diner Inc., which operates as Matador Tacos & Tapas, received $15,000; and The Real Estate Gallery LLC received $15,000. The applications were approved Nov. 4, 2025, and the funds were deposited three days later.<\/p>\n The state alleges Espinosa declined to return the money after the city attorney notified her Dec. 5 that accepting it created a prohibited conflict of interest.<\/p>\n The Business Boost 2.0 program used American Rescue Plan Act<\/a> dollars to provide one-time assistance to eligible small businesses.<\/p>\n Espinosa pleaded not guilty and her attorney, Migdalia Perez, said Wednesday the mayor maintains her innocence and denies acting with criminal intent.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case involves a publicly approved grant program administered by City staff, not a secret scheme to steal taxpayer money,\u201d Perez said in a statement. \u201cWe intend to challenge these allegations vigorously in court.\u201d <\/p>\n Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the mayor\u2019s arrest at a news conference Wednesday. \u201cPublic officials do not get to write the rules and then write themselves a check,\u201d he stated in a social media post. \u201cFlorida taxpayers funded that money to help small businesses, not to enrich the mayor who controlled it.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, we announced the arrest of Kissimmee Mayor Eva Jacquelyn Espinosa for Grand Theft and Organized Scheme to Defraud. Mayor Espinosa used her position to push a grant program, then took $50,000 from it to enrich her family\u2019s businesses.<\/p>\n Public officials do not get to write the rules and then write themselves a check. Florida taxpayers funded that money to help small businesses, not to enrich the mayor who controlled it.<\/p>\n https:\/\/t.co\/0zbSOlWlvk<\/p>\n \u2014 Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) October 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 The mayor of Kissimmee, Florida was arrested Wednesday after an internal city investigation accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,144242,116,351,118,117,1975,349,350,346,170349,345],"class_list":["post-434782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jackie-espinosa","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-kissimmee","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-wfox","tag-why-was-kissimmee-mayor-arrested","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434782","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=434782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}