Rachel Dolezal, a former NCAAP chapter leader who resigned amid allegations that she was a white woman pretending to be black, has been charged with felony theft in a welfare fraud case.
Dolezal, who changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, was charged with making false statements to receive nearly $9,000 in food and childcare assistance, according to Fox News via KHQ-TV.
Officials with Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) launched an investigation into Dolezal’s finances in March 2017.
DSHS investigator Kyle Bunge said Dolezal had claimed “income of $300.00 per month in gifts from friends.” However, the department found that she had deposited nearly $84,000 in her bank account between August 2015 and September 2017 without reporting it.
The cash was proceeds from sales of her autobiography, “In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World.”
The DSHS report states Dolezal illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.
She allegedly reported a “change of circumstance” payment of $20,000 from a one-time job in 2017, according to court documents obtained by KHQ-TV.
The single mother-of-3 is also charged with perjury and making false verification for public assistance.
For years, Dolezal passed herself off as a black woman, often claiming victimhood status and accusing others of racial discrimination.
Dolezal made headlines in 2015 when she resigned as leader of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, after her parents confirmed she was born Caucasian.
She was also let go from her position as a professor at Eastern Washington University, where she taught classes in African American studies.
Dolezal worked as a black hair stylist to make ends meet.
In 2017, she told The Associated Press that she still identifies as black, despite being “Caucasian biologically.”
The term “transracial” was coined for her and others like her, including Shaun King, a Caucasian writer and social media activist who lives his life as a black man.
