ICYMI: Buckhead State Rep Resigns, Pleads Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges

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A member of the Georgia House of Representatives announced his resignation on the same day he entered a guilty plea in federal court on charges of misappropriation of funds.

Rep. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta) said in a letter to Gov. Nathan Deal that he was stepping down to, “shift my priorities and transition back to fulltime Civil Human Rights work.” Brooks says he will focus his efforts on the Moore’s Ford lynchings in 1946, which remain unsolved and were the subject of several violent clashes between civil rights marchers and segregationist police in the 1960s and 1970s.

However, Brooks was in federal court Thursday to plead no contest to five counts of mail and wire fraud and guilty to one count filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was indicted in May of 2013 after prosecutors claimed Brooks used nearly $1 million worth of donations meant for charities to pay personal and family expenses. Brooks is represented by former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes.

Brooks represented the extreme southern end of Buckhead as part of House District 55. He was first elected to the General Assembly in 1980.

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