Marion Barry Charged With Stalking

The District of Columbia’s renowned crack head mayor—elected to the city council four times after prison—has been arrested and charged with stalking his former girlfriend in violation of his probation for separate crimes. 

The United States Park Police arrested Marion Barry over the weekend for stalking a 40-year-old woman who flagged an officer down in the District’s Anacostia Park area and pointed Barry out as the man bothering her. He was sitting in a nearby vehicle as the area filled for a 4th of July fireworks celebration at around 8:45 p.m.

The woman is a political consultant who evidently had a short relationship with the crooked 73-year-old lawmaker and says he continues stalking her even though they broke up months ago. 

It marks the latest of many legal troubles for the politician best known for starring in an FBI surveillance video smoking crack as D.C. mayor. Since that 1990 incident, which led to a drug conviction and jail sentence, Barry has failed to pay around half a million dollars in city and federal taxes. 

Earlier this year outraged federal prosecutors tried sending him to jail for repeatedly violating the terms of his probation for tax evasion, which he pleaded guilty to in 2007. However, a magistrate judge refused, ruling that prosecutors did not prove Barry “willfully failed to file his returns” for multiple years.

Incredibly, the corrupt politician keeps getting elected and no judge dares to revoke his probation despite his blatant disregard for the law. Frustrated federal prosecutors call Barry’s conduct “indefensible” and point out that it’s not acceptable for any citizen to shirk a basic civil duty, let alone a former mayor and current city councilman. 

Barry isn’t the only convicted criminal serving on the D.C. Council, however. Last year a lobbyist convicted of money laundering in the late 1990s was elected to the District of Columbia Council. Michael Brown, the son of Clinton Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, won a seat despite his serious legal problems.