Candidate pleads guilty in alleged Florida vote scam

By TERRY SPENCER
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A sham candidate for the Florida Legislature pleaded guilty to being part of a vote siphoning scheme in last year’s election. Alex Rodríguez agreed Tuesday to testify against former Sen. Frank Artiles after pleading guilty in Miami-Dade County to accepting illegal campaign donations and lying on campaign documents. He will receive three years probation. He had faced a possible 20-year prison sentence. Prosecutors say Artiles secretly gave more than $44,000 to Rodríguez so that he could run as an independent in the 2020 election to confuse voters and siphon ballots from then-Democratic incumbent, Sen. Jose Javier Rodríguez. Artiles has pleaded not guilty.