Woman Details Relations With Rep. Reynolds

Breaking her silence after 11 days in jail, a former campaign worker for Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.) testified Monday that she and the congressman began having sex when she was 16, and they once had sex with another woman in his office.

She said she was usually paid up to $100.

Beverly Heard, 19, had been jailed for refusing to confirm either her original accusations in June, 1994, or her recantation in January.

She said their relationship became sexual almost from the moment the two-term Democratic congressman drove up to her in a black Cadillac as she walked outside a high school in 1992.

Reynolds sat expressionless while Heard testified, looking down at the defense table and seeming to take notes.

She testified that at least three times--including once in his congressional office in Chicago--she had sex with Reynolds and another woman.

Sex with a 16-year-old is illegal in Illinois. Sex with a 17-year-old is illegal for an adult in a position of authority, such as a teacher, scout master or congressman.

Reynolds, 43, is charged with sexual assault, sexual abuse and obstruction, for allegedly trying to engineer Heard’s withdrawal from the case. He could get up to 86 years in prison.

Heard said she saw Reynolds less frequently from November, 1992, to September, 1993, when she entered the Air Force. Asked how often they had sex during that period, she said: “Sometimes we would, sometimes we wouldn’t.”

She said that shortly after she quit the Air Force in February, 1994, to be with her lesbian companion and move back to Chicago, Reynolds began asking to see her.

She said that she reluctantly agreed to see him in June, 1994, and that after he made a sexual advance she went to police.

“I wanted to get Mel off my back,” she testified.

When she recanted in January, she admitted dating Reynolds but denied having sex.

She agreed on Friday to take the stand after being granted immunity from prosecution for perjury in her previous statements.

Defense attorney Sam Adam said during a break, “Nothing she says would surprise me.” The lawyer predicted a long cross-examination.