February 18, 2014 (TSR) – Former US Rep Melvin Jay Reynolds has been arrested in Zimbabwe on suspicion of possessing pornography and an immigration offence.
Reynolds is being held in custody and is expected to appear in court soon, immigration official Ario Mabika told The Associated Press.
Reynolds, 62, was arrested yesterday by police detectives and immigration officials at a Harare hotel, according to the state-controlled newspaper, The Herald.
He brought several Zimbabwean models and other women to his hotel room where he took photographs and videos, the newspaper reported.
As Reynolds was being escorted to a government vehicle he demanded that officials give him his mobile phone and laptop computer, according to The Herald, whose reporter arrived at the hotel as the arrest was taking place.
Reynolds complained that he was not expecting such treatment when he had brought investors to the country, according to the newspaper. He said he had been to Zimbabwe 17 times and had called for US sanctions to be dropped against President Robert Mugabe and his top associates.
This is the latest of several legal problems for Reynolds, an Illinois Democrat, who once was a Rhodes scholar.
Reynolds resigned from his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. While in prison he was also convicted of bank and campaign fraud. He was in jail until his sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton in January 2001.
