SA LIBERAL BACKBENCHER TROY BELL HAS BEEN CHARGED WITH THEFT AND DECEPTION:
* Troy Bell, 43, was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly at the 2014 state election.
* He holds the seat of Mount Gambier, based around SA's second most populated city in the southeast of the state.
* Prior to politics Bell worked as a school teacher establishing the Independent Learning Centre in Mount Gambier.
* The MP faces 20 charges of theft and six of dishonestly dealing with documents between July 2009 and March 2013 after an investigation by the state's corruption watchdog.
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* He is due to face the Mount Gambier Magistrates court on Tuesday and says he will defend the allegations.
* Bell has resigned from the Liberal Party but will stay in parliament as an independent until the next state election in March.
* The Liberals have reopened preselection for his seat and will name a new candidate in early September.
