previously reported <\/a>that legislative records showed that Arambula missed five weeks of work at the Capitol as he was granted leave for illness.\u00a0<\/p>\nAddiction issues: Elizabeth Arambula said her husband\u2019s dependency issues have worsened over time. She said she had to drive Arambula to work because of his sobriety issues, and that government drivers would take him home. She added that Arambula cannot detach himself from video games or cope without smoking or drinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen his gaming was interrupted, he became angry and irritable,\u201d Elizabeth Arambula said in a court filing. \u201cOn a typical day, he spent much of his time using his THC pen, drinking whiskey and playing games on his iPad, taking a few meetings scattered throughout.\u201d<\/p>\n
She claimed that Arambula spent $4,700 on one mobile game last December.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula also claimed that her husband only checked himself into rehab because she threatened divorce.<\/p>\n
While in rehab, she claimed Arambula terminated her financial accounts and stripped her of financial security instead of working on his recovery.<\/p>\n
After he exited the rehab facility, Elizabeth Arambula said she had doubts about whether her husband was truly sober, pointing to a Ring camera video of her husband handing a vape pen \u2013 used for cannabis \u2013 to a friend outside their home.<\/p>\n
Flashback: Arambula has had a history with substance issues. <\/p>\n
During his first bid for Assembly in 2016, a youthful arrest for driving under the influence became a flashpoint in a heated battle with former Fresno City Councilman \u2013 now Clovis Unified trustee \u2013 Clint Olivier. <\/p>\n
Arambula was reportedly driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15, or twice the legal limit. He was also allegedly driving over 85 miles-per-hour in a 50 miles-per-hour zone.<\/p>\n
The future lawmaker would plead down to a wet reckless to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n
Separately, he was arrested in 2018 for allegedly hitting his daughter hard enough to leave a bruise on her face noticeable by teachers and staff at her school. He was acquitted on a single misdemeanor charge of willful child cruelty.<\/p>\n
Go deeper: Elizabeth Arambula claimed that her husband drained nearly $1 million from their bank accounts, canceled her credit cards, and has not provided any support since she met with a divorce lawyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The family earned $1.275 million in income in 2024, according to tax records provided to the court. That came from Arambula\u2019s salary of nearly $130,000 as well as more than $1 million in capital gains.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula asked the court to seal the records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What they\u2019re saying: \u201cRecognizing that I was having difficulty dealing with the stress of my occupation and the demands made on me, I voluntarily entered an inpatient rehabilitation program on Jan. 7, 2026,\u201d Arambula said in a court filing. \u201cThe program was designed to provide me with the skills necessary to cope with that stress.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the rehab program was \u201cextremely beneficial.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His office told GV Wire that Arambula had been on an approved medical leave during January and is fully engaged in work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zoom in: According to court filings, Arambula said his wife filed for divorce after visiting him in rehab. He claimed that his wife has kept their children from him, with one of the children transferring high schools without his knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cElizabeth is attempting to use my voluntary rehabilitation as an excuse to keep the children from me,\u201d Arambula said in a court filing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula is petitioning for joint custody and asking for the court to order Arambula to refrain from alcohol and cannabis, as well as submit to drug testing. Further, Elizabeth Arambula said in a court filing that she has covered for Arambula\u2019s \u201cstruggles with alcohol, marijuana and gaming, concealing them from our children, family, friends and his professional circle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re watching: Arambula is running for the Fresno City Council this year, after facing term limits in the Legislature.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to launching his candidacy for the seat currently held by Councilman Miguel Arias, the five-term legislator publicly revealed his ambitions to run for Mayor of Fresno.<\/p>\n
Since launching his City Council bid, Arambula has tightly backed a slate of candidates for a variety of seats in Fresno County.<\/p>\n
Arambula recruited social justice activist Sandra Celedon to run to replace him in the Assembly, who now faces an uphill climb against Fresno City Councilwoman Annalisa Perea.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also heavily backed former Arias aide and Fresno City Council contender Ariana Martinez Lott, who is vying to succeed termed-out Councilman Nelson Esparza on the dais.<\/p>\n
Arambula\u2019s $5,500 was Lott\u2019s first major contribution received for her bid and constituted 13% of all funds she raised in calendar year 2025.<\/p>\n
The filing deadline to enter \u2013 or withdraw from \u2013 the City Council race is the close of business Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The reason for Asm. Joaquin Arambula\u2019s (D\u2013Fresno) month-long mystery disappearance from the California State Legislature was revealed Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,7999],"class_list":["post-209023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-highlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}