Reynolds Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Sexual Misconduct

Rep. Mel Reynolds, his promising political career ruined by his conviction for having sex with a teen-age campaign worker, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison.

Before the sentencing, the unrepentant Illinois Democrat delivered an angry, rambling, 40-minute denunciation of the prosecution and the media, accusing them of racism.

“When they shackle me, like they shackled my slave ancestors, and take me off to jail, nobody in this room will see me crawl,” the black congressman said.

Judge Fred G. Suria sentenced Reynolds, 43, to the mandatory minimum four years in prison for criminal sexual assault and ordered him to serve a concurrent four-year term for child pornography.

He also ordered Reynolds to serve an additional year afterward for obstruction of justice.

Suria scoffed at the notion that race played a role. “This case is not about race,” Suria said. “This case is not about politics.”

Suria refused to grant Reynolds a bond to stay free while he is appealing his case and ordered the congressman to go to prison Oct. 5. Reynolds has announced his resignation from Congress, which will take effect Sunday.

Reynolds, a former Rhodes scholar, was convicted Aug. 22 of having sex with Beverly Heard when she was 16 and 17 and obstructing the investigation of the relationship.

Heard, a former campaign volunteer who also is black, complained to police about Reynolds and told her story to a grand jury, then recanted and refused to testify. To compel her testimony, Suria sent her to jail for 13 days.