Disgraced Democratic congressman arrested in Zimbabwe after allegedly making 100 porno films and taking 2,000 naked pictures in hotels

Mel Reynolds was allegedly in the country illegally since December, making pornographic films in hotel rooms with at least 10 models

He reportedly racked up $24,500 in unpaid hotel bills

Reynolds went to prison in the 1990s for the statutory rape of a 16-year-old campaign volunteer, and for bank fraud

His resignation from Congress opened up Barack Obama's first political opportunity, when a state senator stepped forward to run for the seat

Reynolds claimed Monday that Zimbabwe's immigration police refused to give him his passport so he could contact the U.S. Embassy in Harare



Former Illinois Democratic Rep. Mel Reynolds was arrested Monday in Zimbabwe after police learned that he was making pornographic films in hotels where he had accumulated $24,500 in unpaid bills, and that he had overstayed his visa by two months.

A former Reynolds assistant told the state-controlled newspaper The Herald that the Democratic pol had been paying a model and several other girls to produce his pornos.

'His travel documents were not up to date and he used to bring beautiful women at different times,' said the former employee, identified only as Sunny. 'He employed five of us including a personal assistant and a driver.'

The Herald also reported that Reynolds had made more than 100 dirty movies and shot some 1,000 nude photos of at least 10 women.

Mere possession of pornographic material is a crime in Zimbabwe .



Zimbabwean immigration officials say former Democratic Congressman Mel Reynolds has been arrested for allegedly possessing pornographic material that he produced, and for violating immigration laws The Bronte Garden Hotel in Harare, Zimbabwe was the site of Reynolds' arrest and one of the places where he allegedly made his dirty movies Reynolds created a media frenzy in 1995 when he was charged with having sex with an underage campaign worker, asking her to obtain child pornography for him, and then having her sign false affidavits recanting the accusations

Reynolds, once a Rhodes scholar and a close confidante of Rev. Jesse Jackson, resigned in disgrace after two years in Congress when he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, solicitation of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

He was found guilty in 1995 of having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker. Police ran a sting against the congressman when his mistress, who was too young to vote, told her next-door neighbor about the sexual relationship.

That neighbor was a Chicago police officer.

In later taped phone conversations, the teen promised him a three-way sex romp with a 15-year-old Catholic schoolgirl.

'Did I win the Lotto?' Reynolds was heard exclaiming on tape.

While serving a five-year prison sentence, the disgraced Reynolds was convicted on unrelated bank fraud charges in 1997, including lying to Securities and Exchange Commission investigators.

He received another six and a half years, but President Bill Clinton later commuted his sentence when he still had three years left to serve.

Democrat Jesse Jackson Jr., left, replaced Mel Reynolds in Congress and then won 88 per cent of the vote when Reynolds challenged him after his release from prison. But Jackson Jr., the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson (R), went to prison in 2013 for using campaign donations to fund his lavish lifestyle Harare, Zimbabwe has struggled since the nation's currency collapsed in 2008 following an absurd inflation rate of 230 million per cent. The country now has no national currency, and is just beginning to bring in foreign capital, an opportunity Reynolds appears to have grabbed with a group of hotel investors

Reynolds tried to return to Congress in 2004, losing in a landslide to Jesse Jackson Jr. – the man who had replaced him in a special election. Jackson Jr. would go to prison himself in 2013 for skimming campaign donations to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Jackson, the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, was a national co-chair of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign in 2008.

It was Reynolds' trysts with the 16-year-old campaign aide that opened up Barack Obama's first opportunity to enter politics.

Following the Congressman's indictment, state Senator Alice Palmer leaped forward to challenge him in a Democratic primary. Obama immediately put his name forward to win the open state legislative post, starting his meteoric rise to the White House.

A friend from Obama's community organizing days had been Palmer's campaign manager, and made an introduction.

Small world: Law professor Barack Obama began his political life when an Illinois state senator left her seat open by running to replace Reynolds after his resignation from Congress

Reynolds complained Monday that the immigration police who arrested him refused him access to the U.S. Embassy.

'They denied me my passport so that I can contact the United States Embassy which is a violation of international laws,' he said.

'It's the way it is,' Reynolds added, defending himself and suggesting that he was the victim of a scheme to embarrass him.

'I have been in this country 17 times where I have done a lot of work for the people including the fight against sanctions,' he insisted.

But a source told The Herald that Reynolds had received a 14-day visa on November 13, 2013. He renewed it, said the source, but it expired again on December 10: 'He has been in the country illegally all along.'