Mel Reynolds Pleads Guilty To Immigration Charges [UPDATE]

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 21, 2014 3:30PM

Update 1:22 p.m.: The pornography charges against Mel Reynolds were dismissed.

Former Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds pleaded guilty in Zimbabwe Friday of being in the African nation with an expired visa. Reynolds is set to appear in court again later Friday to face charges of possessing pornography; he pleaded not guilty to those charges.

Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe ordered Reynolds to either serve five days in prison or pay a $100 and be immediately deported. Reynolds was arrested Monday allegedly in the possession of over 2,000 nude photos of women and 100 pornographic videos. Reynolds was ostensibly in Zimbabwe as a middleman representing foreign investors in the tourism industry but his 14-day visa expired Dec. 13; he’s been in Zimbabwe illegally since.

Reynolds’s attorney, Arthur Gurira, said Reynolds didn’t renew his visa because he suffered a mild stroke in January and “wasn’t in the best of health.”

“He has been a frequent visitor since 2009, and in and out of the country for 17 times and on all those occasions, he didn’t overstay and was in strict compliance of the immigration laws in this country,” Gurira told the court.

If convicted on the pornography charges, Reynolds faces up to two years in prison and a fine. Reynolds is also accused of owing $24,500 in unpaid bills to two hotels. He famously was involved in a sex scandal with an underage campaign staffer while representing Illinois’ Second Congressional District. Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison on those charges and was later convicted in April 1997 of 15 counts of bank fraud and lying to SEC investigators and sentenced to 6-1/2 years in prison. President Bill Clinton commuted Reynolds’s bank fraud sentence.