Arza resigns House seat and is charged with felonies

HIALEAH, Florida (AP) — It's going from bad to worse for former Republican State Representative Ralph Arza.

First he resigned today after being encouraged to do so by fellow Republicans who thought he had disgraced the party by using obscenities and a racial slur in a voice message on another representative's phone.

Now he's charged with two felony counts.

The state attorney's office charged Arza with one felony count each of retaliating against and tampering with a witness. Also charged with the same counts was Arza's cousin, Paulino Barbon-Junior.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement affidavit says police were able to trace two threatening calls to Arza's cell phone and three to a phone belonging to Barbon from October 21.