Florida mayor arrested for grand theft and fraud related to COVID relief funds

Kissimmee Mayor Eva Jacquelyn Espinosa was arrested Wednesday morning on theft and fraud charges involving $50,000 in federal pandemic relief grants awarded to businesses tied to her and her family, according to the Florida attorney general’s office.

The charges stem from $50,000 in COVID relief funds Espinosa and her family received from a city program that she spearheaded, according to the attorney general’s office.

“Public officials do not get to write the rules and then write themselves a check,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “The mayor used her position to push a COVID relief grant program, then took $50,000 from it for her family’s businesses after being warned it was prohibited. Florida taxpayers funded that money to help small businesses recover, not to enrich the mayor who controlled it. Since we established our public integrity unit, we've worked quickly to hold corrupt officials accountable.”

Espinosa’s attorney, Migdalia Perez, told The Washington Post that Espinosa maintains her innocence and disputes that she acted with criminal intent.

According to the attorney general, shortly after becoming mayor in November 2024, Espinosa advocated for the creation of Kissimmee’s Business Boost 2.0 program to provide one-time assistance to small businesses. The program used federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The day the program launched in September 2025, Espinosa and some of her immediate family members submitted applications for three businesses they either owned or controlled. The applications were approved by November, Uthmeier said.

According to Uthmeier, a month after the money was deposited into accounts linked to Espinosa and her family members, the city attorney warned her that accepting the grants constituted a prohibited conflict of interest and advised her to return the money, but she refused.

“The theme here is we hold corrupt public officials accountable,” Uthmeier said. “If you are going to abuse your office, if you are going to abuse the public’s trust to enrich yourself or family members, we are going to find you and we are going to hold you accountable.”

In August, the city commission held a special meeting to vote on articles of impeachment against Espinosa over ethics concerns, but the motion failed in a 2-2 vote.

“The voters put their trust in their public officials to do what is best for their community, not what is best for themselves,” said Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. “Jackie Espinosa abused that trust and cashed in at the taxpayers’ expense. It is called public service for a reason, not self-service. When I took office, I promised I would root out waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption and today I am fulfilling that promise for the people of Kissimmee.”