Former D.C. Mayor Barry charged with stalking

Spokeswoman calls charge ‘baseless,’ says Barry helped accuser financially

Nancy Ostertag / Getty Images FILE	Former Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested, charged with the misdemeanor of stalking a woman, and then released on July 4.

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updated 6:21 p.m. ET July 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - Police say former Washington Mayor Marion Barry has been arrested and charged with stalking a woman.

The United States Park Police said Barry, a current D.C. Council member, was arrested Saturday in Washington after a woman flagged down an officer and complained that Barry was stalking her.

Barry was charged with misdemeanor stalking and released.

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Barry's spokeswoman, Natalie Williams, said Sunday that the accusation was "baseless."

She says Barry plans to fight the charge and said the accuser is a 40-year-old woman Barry had helped financially.

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.