A Florida mayor was arrested Wednesday on theft and fraud expenses alleging that she illegally enriched herself and relations by way of a COVID-19 small enterprise aid program launched below her administration, in response to the state’s lawyer basic.
Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa is being charged with grand theft, a second-degree felony, and arranged scheme to defraud, a first-degree felony, in response to Florida Legal professional Common James Uthmeier.
Espinosa is accused of improperly appropriating $50,000 in funds by way of town’s Enterprise Increase 2.0 program, in response to the arrest warrant.
“That is the native authorities equal of insider congressional inventory buying and selling,” Florida’s chief monetary officer, Blaise Ingoglia, mentioned throughout a press briefing on Wednesday.
Espinosa, 58, was booked Wednesday morning into the Osceola County Jail below her full identify, Eva Jacqulyn Espinosa, on-line jail information present. Throughout her preliminary court docket look on Thursday, a not responsible plea was entered on her behalf and her bond was set at $70,000.
Incoming Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa sits in Matador Tacos & Tapas Bar, which she owns, in Kissimmee, Fla., in 2023.
Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Pictures
An audit of COVID-19-related grant applications by Ingoglia’s workplace discovered that three companies owned or managed by Espinosa or members of her quick household allegedly acquired $50,000 complete in grant funds by way of Kissimmee’s Enterprise Increase 2.0 program, in response to the warrant. The companies embody a dance manufacturing studio, a diner and an actual property firm, in response to the warrant. She and her relations allegedly utilized for the grants on the day purposes opened in September 2025, in response to the state lawyer basic’s workplace.
“The proof makes very clear that there was intent to interact on this battle of curiosity that finally abused her workplace to counterpoint herself,” Uthmeier mentioned. “Mayor Espinosa demonstrated an intent to create, streamline and simplify, scale back oversight of and extra simply allow a course of whereby herself and quick household may apply for and obtain metropolis funds to which she was not entitled.”
Espinosa’s lawyer mentioned the mayor “maintains her innocence” and that they plan to problem the allegations “vigorously in court docket.”
“This case includes a publicly accepted grant program administered by Metropolis workers, not a secret scheme to steal taxpayer cash,” her lawyer, Migdalia Perez, mentioned in a press release to ABC Information.
“The prosecution should set up that the mayor acted with felony intent. We firmly preserve that she didn’t,” Perez mentioned. “There’s a elementary distinction between an alleged ethics violation and a felony offense. The State can not rework one into the opposite with out proving each factor of against the law past an inexpensive doubt.”
The reserving picture for Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa.
Osceola County Corrections and Jail Providers
Espinosa faces as much as 30 years in jail if convicted as charged, officers mentioned.
She has served because the mayor of Kissimmee since November 2024. Her time period ends in 2028.
Based on town, an arrested mayor “stays of their seat till a qualifying act, akin to suspension, elimination, or resignation takes place.” Vice Mayor Angela Eady will carry out mayoral duties at Metropolis Fee conferences and ceremonial occasions in Espinosa’s absence, town mentioned.
Following Espinosa’s arrest, metropolis supervisor Mike Steigerwald approved an inner investigation of the Enterprise Increase 2.0 Program, town mentioned.
“The investigation will set up how the Enterprise Increase 2.0 Program was designed, administered, and overseen, and whether or not the Metropolis’s insurance policies and procedures concerning the awarding of grants have been adopted and whether or not these insurance policies and procedures are enough,” town mentioned in a press release.
