Civil Rights Leader Wanted For Bouncing Obama Inauguration Party Check

03/18/2015

JOSH FATZICK
Reporter

Former D.C. civil rights activist Walter Fauntroy has a bench warrant out for his arrest in Prince George’s County, Md. after his involvement in an Obama inauguration event that never happened.

The former congressional delegate from Washington, D.C. is alleged to have written a bad check for $50,000 to pay for an extravagant party in suburban Maryland after Obama’s 2008 election win, according to WUSA9. The party, however, never happened, and Fauntroy’s check bounced.

Bench warrants are typically issued by judges when a person is in contempt of court or does not show up for a hearing.

Fauntroy is believed to be somewhere in Africa, though no one knows for sure where he is, and his passport has been revoked as a result of the warrant. Should he try to re-enter the country, his attorney told WUSA9, he will be arrested.

Friends and family became suspicious about Fauntroy’s possible disappearance when he missed the funeral for his friend and former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry in November, and when he failed to show up at the 50th anniversary celebration for the March on Selma, Ala. earlier this month.

This is not the first time Fauntroy has been accused of financial wrongdoing. In 1995, during his tenure in Congress, he plead guilty to lying on a financial disclosure statement about a charitable contribution. He falsely reported making a donation worth almost $24,000 to a church in Washington, D.C. and was subsequently sentenced to probation.

Fauntroy was a close friend to Martin Luther King Jr. He helped King coordinate the 1965 Selma voting rights march, as well as the 1963 March on Washington, where he gave the famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/18/ci...n-party-check/