Ex-Sen. Frank Artiles’ home was raided during an investigation into a candidate

PALMETTO BAY, Florida – A search warrant was executed Wednesday morning at the home of former Florida Senator Frank Artiles as part of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office investigation into whether he illegally funded a candidate planted in the November elections.

Sources say the warrant involves the search of his electronic devices, including his cell phone and computer, as well as the contents of a safe in the Artiles house in Palmetto Bay.

Investigators are looking for evidence of possible communication between Artiles and Alex Rodriguez, a shill candidate in the Florida District 37 Senate race, and whether there is evidence that Artiles illegally paid and paid the bogus candidate.

News of the raid, first reported by Local 10 News, was dropped like a bomb in Tallahassee.

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Rodriguez, a third-party candidate in this race, has the same last name as Democratic incumbent Jose Javier Rodriguez, who narrowly lost to Republican challenger Ileana Garcia.

A Local 10 News investigation shortly after the election found Alex Rodriguez, a heavily indebted machinery representative in Boca Raton, forged his address on his campaign submission form and failed to fundraise nor campaigned for the post he held. the ballot for. He also lied to Local 10 News in November when we asked him to explain his curious no-show, non-party campaign and suspicious campaign financial records.

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Organizing a bogus candidate is not illegal, but funding one is.

Prosecutors have been working on the case for months, following the money and communications between Artiles and Alex Rodriguez.

They may have been made by their digital fingerprints. Rodriguez was keeping his apparent manager Artiles updated on his progress as a candidate.

And the sudden changes in his list of campaign donors date back to Artiles’ home IP address.