Civil Rights Leader Walter Fauntroy Arrested for $55K Bounced Check

Image credit: Loudoun County Sheriff's Office

Upper Marlboro, MD — A disgraced civil rights leader and former D.C. delegate to Congress will appear in a Prince George’s County courtroom next month on a charge that he bounced a $55,000 check.

Former Washington, D.C., Councilman Walter Edward Fauntroy, 83, was released from the Loudoun County Detention Center Tuesday.

He was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Monday morning when he arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport from Dubai, UAE.

Living overseas since 2012, Fauntroy was wanted by the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office for an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear, and fraud for insufficient funds for a check, according to customs officials. He is believed to have been living in Dubai during the past four years.

Prince George's County Judge Michael R. Pearson recalled the arrest warrant and issued a summons for Fauntroy to appear in court July 20, according to a Prince George's County Sheriff’s office spokesperson.

Fauntroy was a delegate to the U.S. Congress for two decades and a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations. He worked with the late icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the 1963 March on Washington.

An arrest warrant was issued for Fauntroy in January 2012 on charges of writing a bad check for $55,000 to a catering company for an inauguration ball he planned for President Obama in 2009 at the Gaylord National Resort at National Harbor. Soon after the warrant was issued for Fauntroy to appear in court, he took a trip abroad and remained in the United Arab Emirates, reports The Washington Post.

The newspaper says Fauntroy flew back to the U.S. because he believed he wouldn’t be arrested – part of the catering bill has been paid – and he wanted to work on a project to install green-energy power plants and other devices to generate clean water and energy in impoverished areas around the world.