WASHINGTON — Civil rights pioneer and former D.C. congressional delegate Walter Fauntroy avoided a trail Monday by paying the money he owed for a failed 2009 presidential inaugural ball.
Police arrested Fauntroy in June as he returned from four years as an overseas fugitive. He was wanted in Prince George’s County for failure to appear in connection with writing a bad $55,000 check. The money was meant for a National Harbor inaugural ball for President Barack Obama that never happened.
“He has made full restitution,” said Fauntroy’s attorney, Johnny Barnes.
The Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office confirms Fauntroy has made good on a $18,900 debt for the ill-fated ball. Charges against Fauntroy have been dismissed.
“Quite frankly, he had always intended to meet this just debt, in fact he had paid a significant part of it before he left for the Middle East, so he didn’t leave town to escape the debt. That had nothing to do with his travels,” Barnes said.
Barnes says friends helped Fauntroy retire the debt.
Fauntroy — D.C.’s first delegate to Congress — is scheduled to address the Congressional Black Caucus Friday and expected to shed some light on this unusual phase in his life during which he lived in the United Arab Emirates.
“He will talk publicly for the first time about why he was over there, what he did and why it took him some time to return,” Barnes said. “The story of his journey will be revealing because there’s been a lot of misinformation.”
