RALEIGH (AP) -- A state House member accused by colleagues of embracing a teenage female page inappropriately said Thursday he will leave the Legislature after the current year's session ends.
Rep. Cary Allred, R-Alamance, said he will step down from the House seat he's held since 1995, The Times-News of Burlington reported.
"I expect to retire by Sept. 1," Allred told the newspaper. He didn't return phone calls from The Associated Press to his home and his legislative office, but said last week he was considering whether or not to complete his two-year term.
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"I'm tired of living in a glass house," he said on May 21. "But I have done nothing illegal or unethical."
The Legislative Ethics Committee last week received a report from the House sergeant-at-arms that collected accounts about Allred's actions in the House chamber April 27. The report, asked for by House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange, made no recommendations on Allred's fate.
It's unclear what, if anything, the committee has done with the report because much of the panel's preliminary work is confidential.
In the report, several House members wrote they were uneasy when they say they saw Allred at the back of the House floor as he gave a page a lengthy hug and kissed her.
Allred said the 17-year-old page was a longtime friend of his family and that he kissed her on the cheek. The page and her parents said in the report they didn't want to file a complaint and were OK with what happened.
Two other Republicans wrote Allred appeared to have been drinking or smelled of alcohol and was particularly agitated during a back-and-forth with Hackney during earlier floor debate that evening.
Allred acknowledged he had one drink before driving to Raleigh and was stopped for speeding before that evening's House floor meeting.
Allred said last week he was going to leave the state Republican Party because he felt betrayed by fellow Republicans who participated in the report. But he changed his mind the next day.
If Allred resigns, Alamance County Republicans would choose a replacement to serve out the remainder of his term. Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue is required to appoint their choice.