State Rep. Dexter Sharper has become the third Georgia House Democrat charged with lying to the government in order to receive unemployment benefits during the pandemic.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Sharper, a Democrat from Valdosta, improperly collected $13,825 in unemployment benefits between April 2020 and May 2021.

Sharper is accused of writing in his application that he had only one employer, Dexter Sharper Party Rental, and he had not worked since March 13, 2020. In 38 subsequent certifications, prosecutors said Sharper repeated he had not worked or earned wages and was actively looking for a job.

But prosecutors said Sharper was earning at least $325 per week from his position in the Georgia General Assembly. In addition, he was receiving $275 per week as a musician, and his rental business was generating $2,231 per week.

“When government officials lie to take money, and do it while holding an elected office, it violates the trust of citizens and weakens faith in our elected government,” Georgia State Inspector General Nigel Lange said in a news release.

Sharper was arraigned Friday in Atlanta before U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell G. Vineyard.

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