Marion Barry charged with stalking

UPDATED:

Former District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry was arrested Saturday and charged with stalking a female acquaintance, the latest in a long string of legal troubles for the colorful politician.

U.S. Park Police said Barry, a current D.C. Council member, was arrested after a woman flagged down an officer and claimed that Barry was stalking her. He was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.

Police did not name Barry’s accuser, but his spokeswoman, Natalie Williams, said Sunday afternoon that the 40-year-old woman is somebody that Barry had helped financially during “various stages of instability” in her life.

The woman and Barry are friends and had lunch earlier in the day, Williams said. Barry ran into the woman again during Fourth of July festivities in Anacostia Park but was on his way home, alone, when the incident occurred, Williams said.

The accusations against Barry constitute a “betrayal,” said Williams, who added that the woman has accused Barry of stalking her before. Barry plans to fight the charges and questions his treatment by police, she said.

Barry was in church all day Sunday and unavailable for comment, Williams said, but he planned to address reporters Monday morning alongside his attorney. A court appearance was scheduled for Thursday.

Barry served four terms as mayor. In his third, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. He served six months in prison and in 1994 regained the mayor’s office.

Barry is currently on probation in a federal tax evasion case.