On this date in 1990, the FBI and D.C. police arrested Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry.
He was charged with possession of cocaine at the downtown Vista International Hotel after an undercover investigation.
The mayor was arrested shortly after 8 p.m. in a sting operation; he smoked crack cocaine in the hotel room. The mayor was with a longtime female friend who agreed to work with federal authorities.
The outcome was one count of misdemeanor cocaine. After he was convicted of the charges, Barry served six months in federal prison but was elected to the D.C. city council in 1992 and ultimately returned to the mayoralty in 1994.
In 2005, he was arrested for stalking his ex-girlfriend, but all charges were dropped.
