RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Rep. Cecil Brockman, facing criminal charges for alleged sex crimes involving a minor, resigned his seat on Friday, the same day a House committee formed to investigate and potentially expel him.

Brockman, a Democrat, submitted his letter of resignation to the principal clerk of the N.C. House of Representatives late Friday afternoon. The typed letter was first dated Oct. 22, which was crossed out and replaced with a handwritten Oct. 31.

Brockman’s letter says: “I am currently facing criminal charges brought against me in Guilford County. Due to the seriousness of these allegations, I need to focus on my defense of these allegations.”

As a result, Brockman wrote, he’s unable to fulfill his duty and service to his constituents and was resigning effective immediately. Brockman did not address the specific charges.

Brockman’s legislative assistant, Drew Gibson, delivered the letter to the clerk’s office soon after the committee was announced.

News about Brockman’s arrest and charges on Oct. 8 stunned the North Carolina political world, as several top elected officials including Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, Republican House Speaker Destin Hall, and House Minority Leader Robert Reives, quickly called on the 41-year-old lawmaker to immediately resign.

However, as weeks went by, Brockman, held in the High Point Detention Center, did not step down.

On Friday, Hall announced a 12-member bipartisan House committee formed for the purpose of investigating Brockman and determining evidence that could lead to expelling him from the House.

Hall removed Brockman from all House committees on which he served on Friday, at the same time as the committee formed. Co-chairs of the committee are Republican Rules Chair John Bell, Republican Majority Leader Brenden Jones and Reives.

Reives said in a statement Friday that he is “glad that Rep. Brockman has voluntarily resigned from the General Assembly. The allegations against him are serious and made it impossible for him to adequately represent his constituents. I look forward to the Guilford County Democrats appointing his successor.”

Brockman, who has represented High Point and surrounding areas in Guilford County since 2015, faces two felony counts each of indecent liberties with a child and statutory sex offense with a minor who is 15 years old or younger.

After his arrest, Brockman made his first appearance in district court and had his bond set by a judge at $1.05 million. He was hospitalized because of an unspecified medical emergency, authorities announced on Oct. 9, the day he was initially scheduled to appear in court. He was later moved to the jail.

Brockman ended up participating in the first hearing virtually, from his hospital room. During that hearing, Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump revealed that Brockman was arrested after an investigation that began when he called 911 and told a dispatcher that he was looking for a juvenile who he said was his friend.

The juvenile, who turned 15 in June, encountered Brockman on an online dating app and lived with him at an apartment near Atlanta earlier this year before they moved in August to an apartment in High Point.

The alleged offenses Brockman has been charged with occurred on Aug. 15, according to court records.

Brockman was arrested on Oct. 8 by the State Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities recovered the minor’s cellphone containing 14 videos showing “certain acts,” in some of which officials were able to identify Brockman, according to Crump.

Crump said in court on Oct. 10 that Brockman tried to contact the minor multiple times, including through a third party. He also tried to push through a locked door at the hospital where the minor was, she said. It is unclear why the minor was hospitalized.

Brockman asked multiple times during the Oct. 10 hearing if he could read a statement, but Judge Gordon Miller repeatedly advised him to speak with his attorney before making any comments. Brockman was represented during the hearing by Alec Carpenter, a Greensboro lawyer.

Miller told Brockman that even if he posts bond, he will remain forbidden from contacting the minor, either directly or through a third party.

Brockman’s next court date is Monday.

In the General Assembly, Brockman has been known for being one of a few Democrats who votes more frequently with the Republican majority than the rest of his party, something that had put him at odds with much of his party.

Brockman faced repeated scrutiny and criticism from other Democrats and party activists after his votes in favor of GOP budget bills in 2023 and 2024.

He was one of multiple House and Senate Democrats who faced primary challengers in 2024 over their support for Republican legislation.

The Young Democrats of North Carolina, the state party’s official youth arm, endorsed challengers against him and another House Democrat, Rep. Michael Wray. Brockman ended up narrowly surviving his primary challenge, while Wray lost by a razor-thin margin. (Wray has since announced he will seek another term from his old seat in 2026.)

Brockman drew attention in recent years for his vocal and public pushback against criticism from his party.

After YDNC and other party youth organizations criticized him and other Democrats for voting for the House and Senate GOP’s two-year budget in September 2023, Brockman said the youth leaders should “grow up.”

He defended his support for the budget, saying it provided his district with $29 million in important funding for local organizations.

“When you’re an adult you have to work with people you may have disagreements with and even may not like,” Brockman said at the time. “But you get up every day and you do your job.”

Brockman also criticized his party following the departure of Rep. Tricia Cotham, who switched parties and joined the House Republican Caucus in April 2023.

He said then that he knew how Cotham felt, after they both faced criticism for missing a vote that enabled Republicans to override a veto of gun rights legislation, and didn’t blame her “one bit” for her decision.

“I think she just wanted to do what’s best for her district and when you’re constantly talked about and trashed — especially the way that we have been over the past few weeks — I think this is what happens,” Brockman said.

More recently, in December, Brockman said his party was treating him the same way it treated Cotham, after he faced criticism from fellow Democrats for missing an override vote on major GOP legislation that took away power from Stein and other incoming Democratic elected officials.

Asked if he planned to stay in the party, Brockman told The News & Observer at the time that he had been a “lifelong Democrat,” and that instead of “fighting other Democrats, I would rather see our party focus on doing things a successful one does to win back the majority.”

When asked if he had ruled out switching parties entirely, Brockman responded: “I would just say that this is the exact same behavior that pushed Tricia Cotham out of our party. Everyone has their limits.” He had previously ruled out switching parties in 2023.

Responding to criticism over missed votes during the 2023-24 legislative session, Brockman told The N&O in April 2024 that he had struggled with his mental health, and suffered a mental breakdown the year before.

Defending his record, Brockman said that despite his absences, he had “gotten more done for my poor Black community by prioritizing them, my constituency, over divisive party politics.”

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