Kissimmee mayor posts $70,000 bond after arrest on theft, fraud charges

Mayor of Kissimmee could walk out of jail at any moment. She's posted bond just within the last hour. Of course, Fox 35 has a crew live right now waiting for her to be released. And we were there this afternoon when Jackie Espinosa faced a judge. Thanks for joining us for the News Edge at 6. I'm Jack Royer. And I'm Marlisa Goldsmith. She's accused of taking $50,000 in city grant money for her own business. Investigative reporter Marie Ettinger joins us live outside the jail with more. Marie. Right. You guys said she's posted bond. So now we're just waiting. It's one of those things where you know it could happen at any moment and we want to be ready. We can see a few people gathered by the door. We've seen deputies come and bring a couple people inside one at a time. So it seems like this could be in the next few moments, few hours. It's one of those things where you just don't know, but it seems like it could be imminent. This is something that we've been waiting for since yesterday when she was first booked into jail around nine in the morning. Mayor Jackie Espinoza, housed in her own cell apart from the other inmates making their first appearances, something a representative for the jail told me was for her own safety as a high-profile figure. I've set bond at $20,000 on count one and $50,000 count two. The state prosecutor asked the judge to demand Espinoza prove the source of funds she's using to pay her bond did not come from any criminal activity. She's accused of grand theft and scheme to defraud after state prosecutors say she helped create a grant program as mayor, then applied for those grants to get money for her own businesses. Her defense attorneys say the $50,000 at the center of this case are long gone. There were many businesses that Ms. Espinoza runs. She's the mayor of Kissimmee. She has lots of sources of funds that are not in any way involved in any kind of misdeed. The judge says he'll stick with the $70,000 bond he issued. This call to action. Mayor Espinosa was supposed to be with this group of Latin community leaders today, encouraging people to vote. Among that group was Commissioner Jeanette Martinez, who could be a witness for the prosecution in Mayor Espinosa's case. I will not be making any comments when it comes to reference to the mayor or the allegations or anything. Everyone has their day in court. She told investigators she knew there were ethical implications with the mayor's actions and found the behavior unexplainable. She'd voted to impeach the mayor over ethics concerns. I had a hard time sleeping, regardless of my vote being to move forward with the process, regardless, putting aside Mayor Jackie Espinosa's seat, the title, I think about the person. That's a mother. That's a wife. That's a grandmother. Some of the other speakers, Commissioner Martinez not included in that group, expressed concern about the timing of the arrest just ahead of the midterms, although the mayor is not up for reelection right now. The Attorney General responded to that question. This case has been in the works for a while. I don't control necessarily when a judge signs an arrest warrant, but the minute it was signed, we went public to explain why we arrested this public official. Public officials are public servants. They're here to serve you all, the taxpayers, not to get flushed with cash from their own initiatives. The mayor has her next court appearance scheduled for December 1st. There's also a hearing for an ethics commission tomorrow morning talking about these same allegations. Live in Osceola County, Marie Ettinger, Fox 35 News.