NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Steven Pagones said Tawana Brawley has begun paying him damages 26 years after she falsely accused him of being among a group of men who raped her.
The payment came as nearly $3,800 in wage garnishments, Pagones told CNN Sunday.
Brawley still owes Pagones more than $400,000 in defamation damages.
In the fall of 1987, Brawley, who is black, was found in a trash bag in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., with racial slurs written across her body. Then 15, she claimed she was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by a group of white men.
The Rev. Al Sharpton became Brawley's spokesman, with the activist organizing rallies and calling for justice on her behalf.
When a grand jury heard the case, it determined Brawley lied.
Pagones, who was an assistant district attorney, then filed a civil suit against Brawley, Sharpton and Brawley's lawyers as defendants.
Sharpton paid his debt to Pagones, but Brawley, now 41 and a nurse in Virginia, still owes Pagones more than $431,000.
Pagones told CNN he would forgive Brawley's debt if she would issue a personal apology and clear his name of all wrongdoing.
"Just tell the truth. That's all I'm looking for here. I have been battling this since day one, and it's really all about telling the truth," Pagones said.
