Mel Reynolds Sentenced For Not Filing Taxes

CHICAGO, IL — Former United States Congressman Mel Reynolds will spend four more months in prison after he was sentenced Thursday for federal tax evasion charges. Reynolds was sentenced to six months in prison, with two months of credit for time served, in connection with failing to file federal income tax returns for four year, John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and Gabriel L. Grchan, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago said in a joint statement.

Reynolds, the representative in the United States Congress for Illinois' 2nd Congressional District from 1993 to 1995, was found guilty last year of crimes related to not filing returns for the calendar years of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. He was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Robert W. Gettleman in a federal court in Chicago.

"Evidence at trial showed that Reynolds received gross income in excess of the minimum amount required to file a tax return," according to the statement announcing his sentence. "As a result, he was required by law to file a federal income tax return, but he willfully failed to do so."

Along with the tax charges, Reynolds has had other legal troubles, stretching back to his time as a congressman in the mid-1990s. In August of 1995, he was convicted on multiple sexual assault and child pornography charges over allegations he had a sexual relationship with a teenage campaign volunteer. Reynolds resigned a little more than a month later, and he was sentenced to five years in prison. Before the '90s were out, Reynolds also faced convictions on multiple counts of bank fraud.

Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds (Photo via Patch archive)