R8B Superstar R.Kelly surrendered to Chicago Police on Friday night, reports said, as he is due to be docked today for criminal sex abuse of minors.
The musician, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly faces a criminal charge of aggravated sexual abuse involving four victims, including at least three between the ages of 13 and 17.
A videotape reportedly showing the singer having sex with an underage girl has been handed over to the police by attorney Michael Avenatti, who is also the lawyer to porn star, Stormy Daniels, in legal tangle with President Donald Trump.
Kelly, 52, was charged in a 10-count Cook County Circuit Court indictment handed down two months after the debut of a six-hour documentary series on the Lifetime television network in which multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and abuse.
His attorney Steven Greenberg told Reuters in an interview in January the Lifetime series was a “complete fabrication” and that there was no evidence to support the allegations against his client.
At a news conference on Friday after the charges were detailed in a court filing, the Cook County state’s attorney, Kimberly Foxx, said three of the four victims Kelly is accused of sexually abusing between 1998 and 2010 were under age 17 at the time of the assaults.
Kelly, was expected to appear at a bond hearing on Saturday afternoon, Fox said. The entertainer faces a maximum sentence of 70 years in prison if convicted.
Attorney Michael Avenatti, told a separate news conference he has been retained by two people who he said were victims, as well as two parents and two “whistle-blowers” from Kelly’s inner circle.
Avenatti said his firm had uncovered a 40-minute videotape shot in the late 1990s allegedly showing Kelly performing sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl. Avenatti said he had given the tape to prosecutors.
The development forced record label, Sony Music to drop R. Kelly last month
The `I believe I can Fly’ crooner was also removed from the RCA website whose parent company is Sony Music.
Sony’s move comes after years of public calls, and even a petition from members of the #MuteRKelly Movement, for the company to part ways with him.
Those calls intensified in the wake of the documentary `Surviving R. Kelly’ in which multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct.
The protest were by women, organisations and victims including parents and relations of victims at the Sony Music offices in Los Angeles and its New York Headquarters.
Reports had it that Lady Gaga and Celine Dion who had worked with him (Gaga’s `What do you want’ and Dion’s `I am your Angel’) had apologised and promised to remove the songs from streaming platforms.
Similarly, Chance the Rapper also pulled out his 2015 collaboration with R. Kelly `Somewhere in Paradise’ from all streaming services.
Surviving R.Kelly is a six hour-long chapter documentary that dives into the terrible, tangled history of allegations against the 52 year-old super star and separated father of three.
The first two episodes dug into the childhood of the Chicago born rapper turned producer, singer and song writer, in which he was recognised as a musical prodigy.
His unstoppable rise to stardom and his relationship to Aaliyah (now late), whom he met when she was 12 years-old were also in the first two episodes of the documentary.
The third and fourth episodes detailed the circumstances of the so-called “pee tape,” which allegedly showed Kelly having sex with and urinating on a 14 year-old girl, and the alleged child pornography case that ended in a surprise acquittal.
The final two episodes highlighted the reports from the last several years that Kelly allegedly isolated and groomed women and girls into a sex cult for his own pleasure.
All of these incidents had been exhaustively reported and dissected in public. Women had come forward with eyewitness accounts of gas lighting, intimidation, molestation and violence.
There is so much smolder surrounding Kelly who recently released a song, “Born to My Music,’’ his first for the year 2019.
NAN
