Brickbat: Family Matters
Kissimmee, Florida, Mayor Jackie Espinosa has been charged with one felony count each of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud for using her position to obtain $50,000 in city grant money for businesses owned or controlled by her family. Investigators say Espinosa helped develop the city's Business Boost 2.0 program, which distributed federal COVID-19 relief funds to local small businesses, then applied for grants alongside her immediate family members. As a result, one of her family's businesses received $20,000, and two others received $15,000 each, in November 2025. The city attorney warned her the following month that accepting the grants would create a prohibited conflict of interest, but she did not return the money. She has pleaded not guilty, and her attorney argues that the grants came through a publicly approved program administered by city employees.