MIAMI – Frank Artiles served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives and one term in the Florida Senate before he ended up in the middle of a “ghost” candidate scandal.
Prosecutors accused the Cuban-American Republican politician from Florida of being the brains behind a scheme to confuse Florida Senate District 37 voters.
Frank Artiles’s trial will soon come to an end. Closing arguments are set to begin as soon as Monday. Jurors listened to witness testimony on Thursday.
About 6,000 cast their ballots for Alex Rodríguez, an independent District 37 Florida Senate race candidate. Investigators said this made way for Republican candidate Ileana García’s victory by just 32 votes.
Rodríguez, the prosecution’s star witness, said he agreed to run against the then-Democratic incumbent, Florida Sen. Jose Javier Rodríguez, because he had financial problems.
Investigators said Artiles presented a financial opportunity.
“I am ashamed but I needed the money,” Alex Rodríguez said.
The defense called Lisa Keys, Alex Rodriguez’s ex-girlfriend, to testify Thursday about how he painted himself out to be something he was not after she met him at her children’s Catholic private school.
“He told me he was going to be making millions with a deal he had going on,” Keys said in court adding that he also disclosed that he was going to therapy to try to stop lying so much.
The prosecution called Eutimio Cepero, the lead detective in the case, and asked him to testify about the evidence uncovered in a home office at Artiles’s house.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Miguel Manuel de la O has been presiding over the case. Assistant State Attorney William Gonzalez is prosecuting the case.