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© M. Spencer Green -- APConvicted former congressman Mel Reynolds (D-Ill.)
Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds - an ex-con from Chicago convicted of bank fraud and having sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was in his 40s - has been arrested in Zimbabwe, said a Zimbabwean immigration official.

Reynolds, 62, is being held in custody and is expected to appear in court soon, immigration official Ario Mabika told The Associated Press.

The state-controlled newspaper, The Herald, reported that Reynolds was arrested Monday for allegedly possessing pornographic material and violating immigration laws.

He brought several Zimbabwean models and other women to his hotel room where he took photographs and videos, the newspaper reported.

As Reynolds was being escorted to a government vehicle he demanded that officials give him his mobile phone and laptop computer, according to The Herald, whose reporter arrived at the hotel as the arrest was taking place.

Reynolds complained that he was not expecting such treatment when he had brought investors to the country, according to the newspaper. He said he had been to Zimbabwe 17 times and had called for U.S. sanctions to be dropped against President Robert Mugabe and his top associates.

Reynolds, an Illinois Democrat and a Harvard graduate, unseated U.S. Rep. Gus Savage in 1992, two years after a House ethics committee determined that during an official trip to Africa Savage had made improper sexual advances to a female Peace Corps volunteer. Reynolds resigned from his congressional seat in 1995 after he was convicted of 12 counts of statutory rape, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography.

Reynolds held the 2nd Congressional District seat from 1993 to 1995. He was then convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker. While he was in jail for that conviction, the feds hit him with campaign finance charges, for improperly using his campaign fund. In 2001, former President Bill Clinton commuted his sentence to time served.

After Reynolds left prison, he made two more runs for Congress.

In 2004 Reynolds challenged Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. in the Democratic primary and won about 6 percent of the vote. Jackson won about 89 percent of the vote. Reynolds unsuccessfully ran for the seat again after Jackson resigned in 2012 in disgrace in the midst of a federal investigation. Reynolds won less than 1 percent of the vote in a 15-way primary won by Robin Kelly, who went on to win the general election.

It was Reynolds who Jackson replaced 17 years ago - in a special election - after Reynolds himself resigned in disgrace after his conviction.

Regarding Reynolds' new arrest in Zimbabwe, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Karen Kelley, said the embassy could not comment as it was a private matter and the embassy did not did not have a privacy waiver.

Reynolds also has accumulated hotel bills worth $24,500 which he has not yet paid, reported The Herald.

Reynolds could face up to two years' imprisonment or a hefty fine if found guilty of possessing pornographic material and deportation for breaching Zimbabwean immigration laws. It is illegal in Zimbabwe to possess any material of a sexual nature.

Before his arrest, Reynolds had gained prominence in Zimbabwe for being involved in attracting investment for the $145 million construction of a Hilton Hotel and office complex in Harare, reported The Herald. Construction is expected to begin in April and be finished in last 2016, said the newspaper.

"He toured the construction site back then in the company of government ministers Walter Mzembi, Webster Shamu and Ignatius Chombo, and businessman Mr Farai Jere," according to the paper.