Ex-lawmaker Mel Reynolds 'squandered' life, judge says during sentencing

CHICAGO — A federal judge Thursday handed former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds a six-month prison sentence for not filing tax returns for income on consulting work from Africa, telling the Harvard graduate he had “squandered” opportunities to be something better in life.

Judge Robert Gettleman noted how Reynolds, 66, rose from poverty in Mississippi to become a Rhodes Scholar and then a member of Congress. The judge said he could recall thinking to himself in the early 1990s that Reynolds had tremendous promise.

“It’s a tragedy that you squandered the opportunities you had and the type of person you could have become,” he said.

The judge alluded, not just to Reynolds’ tax case, but to his 1995 statutory rape conviction for having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker. Later, he was convicted of concealing debts and diverting money meant for voter registration drives into his election campaign.

Read more: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2018/05/11/judge-notes-mel-reynolds-mississippi-past-during-sentencing/602963002/