Update at 2:41 p.m.: Miguel Hernandez was arrested by the Dallas Police Department and not apprehended by the Texas Attorney General's fugitive unit, as originally reported. This story has been updated to reflect that change.

A suspect in the West Dallas vote fraud investigation is finally in custody after a month on the run, authorities said Thursday.

Miguel Hernandez, 27, was booked into the Dallas County Jail on Wednesday on a count of illegally voting. He is accused of taking a West Dallas woman's blank mail-in ballot, filling in a Dallas City Council candidate's name and returning it to the county elections department. His bail was set at $100,000.

Miguel Hernandez (Dallas County Sheriff's Department)

Hernandez's arrest comes nearly a week after a grand jury indicted him on a charge of illegal voting, a second-degree felony. If convicted, he faces from two to 20 years in prison.

It's unclear whether Hernandez was working for a particular council candidate, as authorities haven't disclosed any evidence of an association. The Dallas County district attorney's office and the Texas attorney general's office are continuing to investigate.

Both front-running candidates in the West Dallas council race — former council member Monica Alonzo and current council member Omar Narvaez — have denied any connection to Hernandez and have urged toughness on anyone found responsible for election fraud.

Assistant District Attorney Andy Chatham, who has been overseeing the investigation, said Hernandez was in the process of getting an attorney appointed to represent him on Thursday. Chatham said he will not speak to Hernandez until he has a lawyer.

What happens next, said the former state district judge, "depends on whether or not he wants to make a statement. He has the right to remain silent, and if he chooses to do that I certainly respect it, but I am hoping he will open up a dialogue. But that remains between him and his attorney."

Chatham said Hernandez was arrested by Dallas police following a traffic stop.

Around April 10, Hernandez knocked on a woman's front door and told her that he knew she possessed a mail-in ballot, Chatham has said. Chatham said Hernandez offered to bring the ballot to the elections department on her behalf.

When the woman gave Hernandez her ballot, she had not yet filled it out, authorities said. But when it arrived at the Dallas County Elections Department, Chatham said, it bore the name of a council candidate, which Chatham is not releasing, as well as the woman's forged signature and the signature of a "Jose Rodriguez," claiming to have assisted her.

Though Hernandez is only accused of one count of illegal voting, prosecutors have said that about 700 mail-in ballots were linked to "Jose Rodriguez," which they believe is a fake name. Many senior citizens complained about fraudulent activity linked to their ballots, and said they didn't know anyone named Jose Rodriguez.

Authorities have been looking into Hernandez for months.

In May, Pat Stephens, a 67-year-old West Dallas resident, told The Dallas Morning News that one month earlier, a Hispanic man knocked on her door and said he was there to collect her mail-in ballot. Stephens told the man she hadn't requested one and demanded to see his ID.

Miguel Hernandez, shown in a driver's license photo snapped by Pat Stephens, 67, of West Dallas (Pat Stephens)

When he showed it to her, she snapped a photo on her cellphone, which showed the man's name to be Miguel Hernandez and a birth date matching the suspect's. Stephens later spoke to authorities, though she is not the victim in the case that led to an indictment.

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