Edinburg Mayor Richard Molina has been arrested for voter fraud, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday morning, the latest in a string of arrests the state’s election fraud unit has made in connection with what Paxton described as “an organized illegal voting scheme” in the November 2017 municipal election that brought Molina to power.
According to a news release from the attorney general’s office, Molina directed voters to change their addresses to places where they did not live — including an apartment complex owned by Molina — so they could vote for him. Molina, hailed as an “anti-establishment” outsider, won the election by 1,240 votes, unseating incumbent Mayor Richard Garcia in the South Texas town….City spokeswoman Cary Zayas said Molina “very adamantly denies any wrongdoing” and added that “the city is supportive of the mayor.”
Molina, who could not immediately be reached for comment, released a Facebook video last year dismissing the investigation as politically motivated. The formal voter fraud complaint that sparked the investigation, Molina claimed in the video, was filed by a political enemy who holds a “political vendetta against me.”