The R&B star R Kelly is due in court in Chicago on Saturday after being charged with aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17.
In a brief appearance before reporters on Friday, Cook county state’s attorney Kim Foxx announced 10 counts against the 52-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Kelly. She said the abuse dated back as far as 1998 and spanned more than a decade. She did not comment or take questions.
Kelly was driven to a Chicago police station around 8.15pm. He did not respond to questions from reporters as he walked inside the building.
Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that Kelly was under arrest. He was expected to be held overnight before an appearance on Saturday in bond court.
Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, told reporters one of the charges appears to be tied to a decade-old child pornography case.
“Double jeopardy should bar that case,” Greenberg said. “He won that case.”
Kelly, who was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008, has consistently denied any sexual misconduct. Greenberg said he thinks prosecutors rushed to judgment, calling the singer “an innocent man”.
“Mr Kelly is strong,” Greenberg said. “He’s got a lot of support and he’s going to be vindicated on all these charges.”
The arrest sets the stage for another #MeToo-era celebrity trial. Bill Cosbywent to prison last year and former Hollywood studio boss Harvey Weinstein is awaiting trial.
Best known for hits such as I Believe I Can Fly, Kelly was charged a week after Michael Avenatti, the attorney whose clients have included the adult film star Stormy Daniels, said he gave prosecutors new video evidence of the singer with an underage girl.
At a news conference on Friday in Chicago, Avenatti said a 14-year-old girl seen with R Kelly on the video is among four victims mentioned in the indictment. He said the footage shows two scenes on two days at Kelly’s residence in the late 1990s. During the video, both the victim and Kelly refer to her age 10 times, he said.
Avenatti said he represents six clients, including two victims, two parents and two people he describes as “knowing R Kelly and being within his inner circle for the better part of 25 years”.
“I don’t know what the tape is,” Greenberg said. “We haven’t seen it. No one’s showed us the tape.”
The new charges marked “a watershed moment”, Avenatti said, adding that he believes more than 10 other people associated with Kelly should be charged as “enablers”.
The video surfaced during a 10-month investigation by Avenatti’s office. He told the AP the person who provided the tape knew both Kelly and the female in the video.
In 2008 Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges that arose from a video prosecutors said showed him having sex with a girl as young as 13. He and the young woman allegedly seen with him denied they were in the 27-minute video, even though the picture quality was good and witnesses testified it was them. Kelly could have been given 15 years in prison.
Charging Kelly now for actions that allegedly occurred in the same time frame suggests accusers are cooperating. Each count of the new charges carries up to seven years in prison; it is possible for Kelly to receive up to 70 years behind bars. Probation is also an option.
Greenberg said he offered to sit down with prosecutors to discuss why the allegations were “baseless”.
“Unfortunately, they have succumbed to the court of public opinion, who’ve convicted him,” he said.
Legally and professionally, the walls began closing in on Kelly after the release of a BBC documentary last year and the multipart Lifetime documentary Surviving R Kelly, which aired last month. #MeToo activists and a social media movement using the hashtag #MuteRKelly called on streaming services to drop Kelly’s music and promoters not to book any more concerts. Protesters picketed Kelly’s Chicago studio.
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