Marion Barry, the former four-term mayor of Washington and a current D.C. council member, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation on misdemeanor charges of failing to pay income taxes for six years.
Barry, 70, must set up a payment schedule with the Internal Revenue Service and Washington's tax division to pay back an estimated $246,000. And because he failed a court-ordered drug test after pleading guilty in the fall, Barry will have to undergo further drug testing as part of his probation.
After offering apologies to the court, Washington residents and the country, Barry admitted to not paying taxes from 1999 to 2004. Prosecutors said during those years, Barry was working as a consultant and earning more than $530,000. Barry left the mayor's office in January 1999 and was elected to the D.C, council in November 2004. He earns $92,520 a year as a council member.
The sentence was postponed from last month, because Barry had not filed necessary paperwork saying what taxes he owed or begun discussing repayment with the necessary agencies. Attorneys for Barry said the delay was because their client needed to come up with the cash to hire an accountant.Barry could have faced up to 18 months in jail.
