Why Did Ex-Model Lure Barry Into Sting?

WASHINGTON - Hazel Diane ``Rasheeda'' Moore, the former model who lured D.C. Mayor Marion Barry into a ``sting'' operation, decided to help investigators because she felt Barry had mistreated her and because of her concern that she might face a perjury charge, sources said.

Moore, 38, has told investigators she was upset because a few years ago, at the height of her relationship with Barry, she believed that he was involved with other women, including some of her friends. When she decided to cooperate, Moore told investigators, she was at a ``breaking point'' in her negative feelings about men in general, having gone through a painful divorce and a series of bad relationships, a source said.

As FBI agents and police officers watched on surveillance cameras at the Vista International Hotel in Washington last Thursday evening, Barry repeatedly asked Moore for sex, touched her on the leg, kissed her on the cheek and tried to kiss her on the lips, said sources knowledgeable about the contents of the tape.

But she rebuffed him, and the two did not have sexual relations. During his visit of almost an hour, Barry drank about three glasses of cognac before he took three drags of crack cocaine and investigators burst into the room, sources said.

Moments after the agents arrested him, Barry angrily denounced Moore for setting him up.

Moore was whisked away by agents, and Barry was placed on a heart monitor to check for any ill effects from the crack and cognac, sources said.

Barry, who is undergoing treatment at a clinic in West Palm Beach, Fla., was not available for comment. His attorney, R. Kenneth Mundy, declined comment.

Moore testified at a grand jury last year that she did not use drugs and was only a casual friend of Barry's, according to sources.

But investigators learned that Moore had been Barry's girlfriend for years. They also located witnesses who had seen the two in New York, Florida and California.

The relationship had blossomed when Moore worked at a family-run company that received a contract from the D.C. government to operate a ``self-esteem and career awareness training'' program for the mayor's summer youth project in 1986 and 1987, a source said.

During the same time, Moore was a social worker for the Department of Human Services, city officials said.