Jurors find former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles guilty in ‘ghost candidate’ case MIAMI – A Miami-Dade jury found former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles guilty of three of four counts against him in his criminal case Monday evening. After a few hours of deliberations, jurors found Artiles guilty of making campaign contributions in excess of $1,000, conspiring to make campaign contributions over $1,000 and procuring the falsification of a candidate oath form. They found him not guilty of procuring the falsification of a voter registration form. Prosecutors accused the Republican of spearheading a scheme made to confuse Florida Senate District 37 voters with a no-party “ghost candidate,” named Alex Rodríguez, running against then-Democratic incumbent, Florida Sen. Jose Javier Rodríguez and Republican candidate Ileana García. Rodríguez ran in the election in exchange for $50,000. He testified that he was offered $25,000 before the election and another $25,000 to be paid out after. Jurors find former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles guilty in ‘ghost candidate’ case
