Tawana Brawley, now a licensed practical nurse, has started making defamation payments to Steven Pagones, the ex-prosecutor she falsely accused of rape 25 years ago.
1n 1987, authorities found Brawley lying in a plastic bag near her former home. Then 15, Brawley said three white men had raped her in the woods for several days. When no evidence substantiated her claim, including a rape kit, a grand jury conclude that she had faked the incident. Her case ignited racial tensions around the country.
Pagones, one of the men she accused, filed for damages against Brawley and her advisors, including Rev. Al Sharpton.
Brawley made her first payments last week -- in checks totaling $3,764.61 -- though she still owes Pagones $431,000.
"It’s a long time coming,” Pagones, now 52, told The New York Post.
“Every week, she’ll think of me,” he said. “And every week, she can think about how she has a way out — she can simply tell the truth.”
Brawley has to pay $627 each month for the foreseeable future.
