The mayor of a border town in Texas was arrested Thursday and charged with allegedly orchestrating an illegal voting scheme in his own election in 2017.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a statement about the charges against Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina and his wife Dalia Molina.

"Voter fraud is an affront to democracy and places the decision-making authority of the Texas electorate in the hands of those who have no right to make those choices," said Paxton in the statement.

"Voter apathy is caused by rigged elections with guaranteed outcomes," he explained. "My office will always do everything it can to protect the integrity of Texas elections and the rights of every legal voter to cast a ballot and have it counted accurately. No one is above the law."

The Molinas are charged with using fraudulent vote registrations in order to inflate his vote tally. Sixteen others have also been arrested in connection with the alleged voter fraud ring.

"His vote harvesting scheme involved the participation of paid campaign workers, among others," said Paxton. "Molina won the election, unseating longtime Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia by 1,240 votes."

"Texas is cracking down on election fraud," tweeted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on social media in response to the arrest.

Molina vehemently denies the charges and says he will fight them in court. If convicted, he faces 5 to 99 years in prison, or life.

Here's a local news video about the arrest: