A North Carolina lawmaker who is facing federal charges has resigned.
State Rep. David Lewis, 49, was charged Thursday with making false statements to a bank and failing to file a tax return.
The Republican said in a statement that he plans to enter a plea agreement with prosecutors. A plea hearing is scheduled for next week, according to a court record.
A document released by prosecutors and signed by Lewis’s attorney shows that, in 2018, he used over $300,000 of campaign funds on his personal farm, after which, that money was paid back to his campaign.
Lewis also took roughly $65,000 from his campaign and deposited it into a fund labeled “NC GOP, Inc.” The account actually belonged to Lewis, and almost all of those funds also went to his farm, the court document said. Lewis later paid that same amount to the North Carolina Republican Party.
Lewis announced late last month he would not seek another term. He submitted a letter on Thursday to the state House speaker saying he was resigning effective immediately.
“Today’s agreement with the government signifies my commitment to put an unfortunate chapter behind me,” Lewis said in a statement. “These are my mistakes, and my mistakes alone. I am very sorry for these mistakes, and I apologize. I was raised on a farm, and I’ve been a farmer all my life. But farming has been tough for me for the past six years in a row and the financial stress I’ve been under has been tremendous. However, that is the reality facing many family farms, and it does not excuse my mistakes.”
