Ex-Chicago congressman fights crime

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CHICAGO, July 3 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds, who resigned in disgrace in 1995, helped catch a brazen robber on Chicago's near West Side, police said.

Reynolds, 58, a Democrat who represented the 2nd Congressional District from 1993 to 1995, resigned from office after he was convicted of bank fraud, criminal sexual assault of a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and solicitation of child pornography. He was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison.

Police Saturday were questioning a suspect identified by Reynolds as the thief who snatched a laptop computer bag from a woman at a pizza restaurant Friday morning, the Chicago Tribune said. Reynolds, who no longer lives in Chicago, told the newspaper he was in his car with the windows open when he heard a woman yelling, "Stop him, stop him!"

A police report said Reynolds saw a young man running and chased him in his car and later on foot. He saw the suspect crawl into a basement window of a house where he was arrested by officers who had been at the pizzeria.

Reynolds served three years before President Bill Clinton commuted his bank fraud sentence just before Clinton left office. He is currently a business consultant, the Tribune said.