Police Nab Ex-Lawmaker In Zimbabwe! Did He Forgot To Tell 'Em He's A Sexual Offender?

Ex-lawmaker busted in Zimbabwe with hand jacking videos.

Hey, who says I don't bash the Democratic Party?


Okay readers, I've happened to click on The Raw Story and got a hold of an article about a former Illinois Democratic congressman busted in the African country of Zimbabwe for having run up a check and having possession of the hand jacking videos.

In Zimbabwe, having the hand jacking videos or pictures could be classified as a crime.

Reuters report that Mel Reynolds was arrested over the weekend after it was discovered he was staying in the county on an invalid visa. And to make it worse, he's a convicted sexual offender. Police and immigration officials were investigating Reynolds for living in the southern African country without a valid visa, Francis Mabika, an assistant regional immigration officer, told Reuters.

Mabika said Reynolds has been in Zimbabwe since November, but declined to give further details.

Reuters was unable to reach Reynolds for comment. A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Harare declined to comment.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said the former Illinois congressman had been arrested at a hotel in the capital Harare on Monday

In August 1994, Reynolds was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer that began during the 1992 campaign. Despite the charges, he continued his campaign and was re-elected that November; he had no opposition.

Reynolds initially denied the charges, which he claimed were racially motivated. On August 22, 1995, he was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. He resigned his seat on October 1 of that year.

Reynolds was sentenced to five years in prison, thus he expected to be released in 1998. However, in April 1997 he was convicted on 15 unrelated counts of bank fraud and lying to SEC investigators. These charges resulted in an additional sentence of 78 months in federal prison. Reynolds served all of his first sentence, and served 42 months in prison for the later charges. At that point, President Bill Clinton commuted the sentence for bank fraud. As a result, Reynolds was released from prison and served the remaining time in a halfway house.

The congressional seat would eventually go to disgraced lawmaker Jesse Jackson, Jr., the son of Cut His Nuts Off Jackson.