Former GOP lawmaker's home raided by law enforcement after reports surface about his scheme to sway elections

The home of former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles (R) was raided by law enforcement this Wednesday.

According to The Miami Herald, Artiles is believed to be tied to an investigation by Florida authorities regarding a no-party candidate who allegedly influenced a Miami-Dade Senate race.

In December, the Miami Herald reported that Artiles boasted about planting auto parts dealer Alex Rodriguez in Miami-Dade's Senate District 37 race -- a no-party candidate who shared the same surname as the incumbent Democrat. As the Miami Herald points out, Rodriguez had never run for political office before and only registered as a Republican days before he became a candidate.

At an election night party, Artiles bragged that he planted Rodriguez in the race.

The Herald's December report states that Artiles talked about his so-called "siphoning strategy" in the summer of 2018 with a friend, saying that he planned to use no-party candidates to draw votes away from his intended target to sway elections.

Artiles resigned from the Senate in 2017 astwo scandals involving him simultaneously erupted -- one being an alcohol-fueled rant in which he called two Black lawmakers a racist slur in a Tallahassee bar, the other involving the hiring of a former Hooters "calendar girl" and a Playboy model with no political experience as "consultants" using funds from his political committee.