An ex-civil rights leader, who posed as black before being outed as a white woman by her parents, has been charged with welfare fraud.
Rachel Dolezal, 40, is said to have illegally received $8,747 (£6,500) in food assistance and $100 (£75) in child care assistance over a period of several years.
The former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader is also accused of perjury and false verification for public assistance, according to Spokane news station KHQ-TV.
An investigation was initiated by Washington State after it was told she had written a book – In Full Color.
While court documents say she reported her income as usually less than $500 (£374) per month, records showed she deposited nearly $84,000 (£63,000) into her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017, without reporting it to the Department of Social and Health Services.
Her case record says the money came from writing her memoir, as well as from speaking engagements, soap making, doll making, and the sale of her art.
In October 2017 she had reported a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job worth $20,000 (£15,000).
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Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, says she "fully disclosed her information".
She first came to public attention over the summer of 2015 after her parents revealed that she was born white, and produced a copy of her Montana birth certificate and photos of her as a girl with fair skin and straight blonde hair.
As well as stepping down from her role at the NAACP, she lost her position as a part-time African studies instructor at a local university and her job as a freelance newspaper columnist.
An ex-civil rights leader, who posed as black before being outed as a white woman by her parents, has been charged with welfare fraud.
Rachel Dolezal, 40, is said to have illegally received $8,747 (£6,500) in food assistance and $100 (£75) in child care assistance over a period of several years.
The former National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader is also accused of perjury and false verification for public assistance, according to Spokane news station KHQ-TV.
An investigation was initiated by Washington State after it was told she had written a book – In Full Color.
While court documents say she reported her income as usually less than $500 (£374) per month, records showed she deposited nearly $84,000 (£63,000) into her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017, without reporting it to the Department of Social and Health Services.
Her case record says the money came from writing her memoir, as well as from speaking engagements, soap making, doll making, and the sale of her art.
In October 2017 she had reported a "change of circumstance" to the state agency, saying she did a one-time job worth $20,000 (£15,000).
More from United States
Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, says she "fully disclosed her information".
She first came to public attention over the summer of 2015 after her parents revealed that she was born white, and produced a copy of her Montana birth certificate and photos of her as a girl with fair skin and straight blonde hair.
As well as stepping down from her role at the NAACP, she lost her position as a part-time African studies instructor at a local university and her job as a freelance newspaper columnist.
