The Long Strange Trip Of Mel Reynolds Continues

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 4, 2014 3:15PM

Former congressman Mel Reynolds, most recently deported from Zimbabwe for overstaying his visa, said he’s now in hiding in South Africa. Reynolds spoke to several local media outlets Monday to offer his rambling, slightly paranoid take on his recent drama in Zimbabwe where he pleaded guilty to having an expired visa and had pornography charges against him dismissed.

Here’s what Reynolds told ABC 7:

"(Zimbabwean officials) knew the press would jump on (the pornography charges). That would be the story: 'Here we go again with Mel Reynolds.' And they were right. It was meant to discredit me so the information that I have would not be initially believed."

As to whether he had pornographic images of women in his possession?

"There were no pornographic images on the phone that would be considered pornographic in any place other than Zimbabwe. That in and of itself is a ruse. If a picture of woman topless is pornography, then I plead the Fifth," said Reynolds.

So we can take from that quote that Reynolds had at least one image of a woman, topless, on his phone? Which depending on the circumstance and presentation, we hate to tell Mel, is still considered pornography in many places including the US.

Reynolds spent much of his phone interview with CBS 2’s Brad Edwards blasting media for focusing on the pornography charges. “They knew all they had to do was put S-E-X in anything related to me, and the press would run with that.” When Edwards brought up Reynolds’s August 1995 conviction on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography Reynolds replied, “I was convicted of having sex with someone underage,” Reynolds shot back. “In 47 states in America, that wouldn’t have been a crime.”

Reynolds, who was traveling with his daughter and was in Zimbabwe acting as a middleman for investors doing business in the country, said he plans to hold a Tuesday news conference where he will reveal information about people illegally doing business with the government of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, and expects to be back in Chicago within a week.