Ex-congressman reports to jail to serve out sentence

CHICAGO (AP) - Former Illinois Congressman Mel Reynolds has reported to a federal correctional center to begin serving the remaining four months of his sentence for failing to file tax returns.

The 66-year-old Reynolds surrendered Wednesday for a stay at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.

For failing to file tax returns for income made while consulting for Chicago businessmen operating in Africa, prosecutors asked for a two-year sentence. The six-month term imposed by U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman included credit for two months Reynolds already served in custody.

The Harvard graduate and Rhodes Scholar resigned from Congress in 1995 after being convicted of statutory rape. He was later convicted on charges he illegally raised campaign cash while in Congress and defrauded banks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.