Lawmaker pleads guilty in double-dipping reimbursements case

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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania state lawmaker charged with falsifying and double-dipping on expense reimbursements from the state House of Representatives and her campaign pleaded guilty this week, the state attorney general's office said.

Margo Davidson pleaded guilty Thursday in Dauphin County Court to five counts, including theft, the office said.

All are misdemeanors, but the guilty plea bars Davidson from holding public office in Pennsylvania again, it said.

“With her actions, Davidson betrayed both her constituents and her oath of office,” Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a statement. “Today is further proof that no one is above the law and that everyone who holds office in Pennsylvania is accountable to the law and the people.”

Davidson, 59, a Democrat from Delaware County, was minority chair of the busy State Government Committee when she was charged in July. She promptly resigned her seat.

The attorney general’s office accused Davidson of getting reimbursed for hotel stays, parking, tolls and gas by both her campaign and by the House from 2015 to 2019, and for putting in for reimbursements for hotel stays that never actually occurred.

It also accused her of asking an unnamed witness to lie to investigators.

Davidson was first elected in 2010, and had been in her fifth term.