Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds is headed back to prison for a third time in his ill-fated career after a federal judge sentenced him Thursday to six months behind bars for failing to file tax returns.
The sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman marked the end of a nearly three-year legal saga that has seen the former congressman jailed for violating bond, accused by prosecutors of launching a smear campaign on social media and reprimanded by two judges for failing to abide by the court’s rules.
Reynolds, 66, who acted as his own attorney, kept his hands clasped behind his back and showed no outward reaction to the sentence. In his remarks to the court, he touted his service to the country, telling the judge he’d been unfairly painted by prosecutors as disrespectful of America and the judicial system.
“I’m still the kid who gets choked up when he hears ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ ” Reynolds said.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, however, Reynolds said he was “done with America” and planned to move back to South Africa with his daughter as soon as he completed his sentence. He sounded a familiar refrain in claiming that the case against him was motivated at least in part by a racist judicial system.
“I’m going to do this time, and I’m going home to Africa,” Reynolds said in the lobby of the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. “That’s just how it is. I’ve given up on America because how long do African-Americans put up with this nonsense? No matter what you think of my sentence — or me — why is there such a bias when it comes to sentencing African-Americans?”
The six-month term imposed by Gettleman — well below the two years sought by prosecutors — included credit for two months Reynolds already served in custody. He was ordered to report to prison Aug. 1.
Once a rising political star, Reynolds had a spectacular fall from grace in 1995 when he was convicted of having sex with an underage campaign intern and trying to cover it up. While he was serving a five-year sentence in that case, Reynolds was convicted again for illegally raising campaign cash while in Congress and defrauding banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Reynolds’ most recent legal woes arose in June 2015 when he was charged with four misdemeanor counts alleging he failed to file tax returns from 2009 through 2012.
According to evidence in Reynolds’ trial in September, he’d earned at least $500,000 during those years working as a consultant on business ventures in Africa on behalf of two prominent Chicago businessmen — clout-heavy developer Elzie Higginbottom and businessman Willie Wilson, the owner of a medical supplies company who is running for Chicago mayor.
Reynolds argued that the money was for travel and other expenses, and therefore was not income and did not need to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecutors, however, called that a “fairy tale,” taking Gettleman through pages of Reynolds’ bank statements showing how money was being spent after the checks were deposited.
Among the charges were sports tickets at Michigan State University, where his daughter was attending college, as well as charges to Chicago-area pizza restaurants, clothing stores and an online order for the “Hip Hop Abs” exercise program, the records showed.
After a four-day bench trial in September, Gettleman convicted Reynolds on all four counts.
In a filing earlier this year, prosecutors asked for a stiff two-year prison sentence, noting not only Reynolds’ lengthy criminal history but also his impressive resume as a lawmaker and businessman and educational background as a Harvard graduate and Rhodes scholar.
“Frankly, at the end of the day, (Reynolds) knew better,” the prosecution filing said. “He knew enough to know that he had earned substantial income as a consultant, and he knew enough to know that he should have filed tax returns reporting that income.”
Reynolds took issue with that notion in a court filing this week, accusing prosecutors of trying to punish him for rising up out of “abject poverty” to become an Oxford graduate and U.S. congressman. He also reverted to attacks on Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas, whom Reynolds accused of “selective prosecution” in pursuing a case against him while ignoring what he alleged to be wrongdoing by Higginbottom and Wilson.
In court Thursday, Reynolds choked up at times as he spoke about his life, including his upbringing in rural Mississippi, his dedication to fighting racism and the difficulties of raising children as a single parent. He asked the judge for a chance to “restart” his life and said there was “no point” for him to spend any more time in prison.
“How does the country benefit from that?” Reynolds said. “My life has not been perfect, but I’ve tried my very best. … I’ve done my country well.”
Reynolds also noted that his legal troubles have taken a toll on him both mentally and financially. In his sentencing memo, he said he has a number of serious health issues and is “virtually homeless,” staying in a motel until he can find other accommodations.
“Defendant at this point does (not) even own a suit,” Reynolds wrote.
Gettleman said he followed Reynolds’ meteoric political rise and fall in the 1990s. The judge said it was clear from Reynolds’ court arguments that he was a “terrific orator.”
“I can see why you were elected,” Gettleman said.
But the judge said he struggled to understand how someone with Reynolds’ intelligence and sophistication had once again found himself afoul of the law.
“It’s really a tragedy that you squandered the opportunities that you had and the type of person that you could have become,” Gettleman said.
jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @jmetr22b
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