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Mel Reynolds Arrested In Atlanta

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds was arrested Monday in Atlanta on an outstanding warrant.

Reynolds arrived in Atlanta on a flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, according to the U.S. Marshals Office.

U.S. District Judge John Darrah last month declined Reynolds' attorneys' request to delay his tax evasion trial, slated to begin May 2.

Reynolds has pleaded not guilty to four misdemeanor charges accusing him of failing to file income tax returns from 2009 to 2012.

The former congressman had been allowed to remain free on bond, pending trial, but was given permission to go to South Africa to visit his daughter, who suffers from scoliosis, and might need surgery soon.

"Judge Darrah had given him permission to go to Africa, and spend some time with his daughter, who is apparently very seriously ill. Judge Darrah gave him March 31st as a time by which he needs to come back to Chicago, and when he didn't come back on March 31st, Judge Darrah issued a warrant," said Reynolds' defense attorney, Richard Kling.

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Federal marshals arrested Reynolds when he arrived in Atlanta on Monday.

According to the office of the Illinois Northern District U.S. Attorney's office, Reynolds was ordered released on his own recognizance Monday afternoon and is scheduled to appear for trial in Chicago May 2.

Kling said Reynolds has to appear for pre-trial services in Chicago on Thursday.

In a phone interview on March 31, Reynolds said he needed to be with his daughter, and was doing what any parent would do in his situation.

"My choices were to abandon my child, or come back at this precise moment to face a misdemeanor. I think any parent under the similar circumstances would do the same thing. It wasn't like the court and the prosecution didn't have warning. They've just chosen to take a hard line and ignore the fact that I have a sick child," he said.

Reynolds has faced criminal charges before. He resigned from Congress in 1995, after he was convicted of statutory rape for having sex with a 16-year-old campaign worker. He served 2 1/2 years in prison, and while behind bars he also was convicted of federal financial and campaign fraud charges, for allegedly misusing campaign funds for personal use, and lying to federal investigators. The federal charges netted him an additional 6 1/2 year sentence, but President Bill Clinton commuted that sentence in 2001, with two years left on Reynolds' term.

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