The former Washington state NAACP activist outed as a white woman after passing herself off as an African American is now facing charges of welfare fraud.
Rachel Dolezal, the former head of the civil rights group in Spokane, was charged on Tuesday for theft by welfare fraud and false identity verification in applying for public assistance, NBC affiliate KHQ-TV reports.
According to court documents cited by the network, the 40-year-old illegally received $8,747 in government food assistance and another $100 in childcare assistance between 2015 and 2017.
Investigators first began looking into Dolezal’s finances in March 2017 when she published a controversial book detailing what she calls her “trans-racial” identity, a topic that divided the black community and civil rights activists at the time, KHQ-TV reports.
Despite usually reporting a monthly income of less than $500, Dolezal reportedly deposited around $84,000 into her bank account during the same period without disclosing it to the Department of Social and Health Services. The money came from sales and speaking engagements from her memoir “In Full Color,” according to the case file.
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Rachel Dolezal charged with welfare fraud https://t.co/DcEW44AMJe pic.twitter.com/s2NMJBtPNB
— The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2018
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