Rachel Dolezal, who posed as black, accused of welfare fraud

SPOKANE (AP) — A former NAACP leader in Washington state whose life unraveled after she was outed as a white woman pretending to be black has been charged with welfare fraud.

News station KHQ-TV reported Thursday that Rachel Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Diallo in 2016, was charged this week with theft by welfare fraud, perjury and false verification for public assistance.

Dolezal, who used to live and work in Coeur d’Alene, first achieved notoriety in 2015 after The Press reported she was born to white parents and posing as a black woman in Spokane. At the time, in addition to her activism with the local NAACP chapter, Dolezal was teaching Africana studies at Eastern Washington University and writing a column for a Spokane weekly, often discussing her experiences as a black woman. She also claimed to be the target of racially motivated hate crimes that were never substantiated by police.

Court documents say she illegally received $8,747 in food assistance and $100 in child care assistance from August 2015 through November 2017.

An investigation started in March 2017 when a state investigator received information that she had written a book.

Documents say she had deposited nearly $84,000 into her bank account without reporting it.

They say the former activist told investigators she “fully disclosed her information” and declined to answer further questions.