Ask William Walker III why he’s visited the Dominican Republic beach town of Sosúa dozens of times in the past few years, and this is what he’ll tell you:

“What I fell in love with is the peace and serenity of the ocean,” he says. “Being able to swim and fish. Wasn’t a lot of bureaucracy.”

Maybe not down there. But Walker’s trips to Sosúa have sure caused a bureaucratic extravaganza around these parts. The 51-year-old Upper Marlboro resident says he set events into motion that nearly led to the city giveaway of a surplus fire truck and ambulance to the Dominican town. Those shadowy events have since prompted a cursory non-investigation by Attorney General Peter J. Nickles and more thoroughgoing probes by Inspector General Charles J. Willoughby, the D.C. Council, and local reporters.

Walker is scheduled to appear Thursday at a hearing held jointly by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary M. Cheh and At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson on why, exactly, usable city emergency equipment was almost shipped to Sosúa with no official explanation save for a cryptic line printed in the March 20 D.C. Register—“the Chief Procurement Officer or his designee may donate surplus supplies to Peaceaholics Inc., a nonprofit organization.”

At the hearing, Walker says, he plans to tell his story.

It’s a story that starts with a tragedy. Walker, a native Washingtonian, came back to the District from Hollywood in 1991 in order to marry the woman he loved. Before they could return, she died on the Suitland Parkway, struck and killed by the driver of a van being chased by D.C. cops. A pair of 14-year-olds were on a joyride.... Continued