R Kelly arrested on federal sex trafficking charges
- by Leland Aguilar
- in Entertaiment
- — Jul 13, 2019
The arrest comes months after Kelly was charged with 11 additional counts of sexual abuse in May. Kelly's publicist will reportedly deliver a press conference on Friday morning.
The Cook County charges involve alleged abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16.
Federal authorities in Chicago have arrested and charged R&B singer R. Kelly in a 13-count indictment alleging child pornography and obstruction of justice, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of IL.
The indictment in the Northern District of IL contains allegations of child pornography and obstruction of justice. When he was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon, Kelly was out on $1 million bond. The 52-year-old Grammy victor, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in IL of sexually abusing three girls and a woman. The indictment also alleges they arranged for the girl and her parents to travel overseas prior to his 2002 indictment so they'd be unavailable to law enforcement investigating the case.
The arrest also includes a thirteen count indictment, some of which are related to child pornography and obstruction of justice. Authorities say he confined the victims against their will, forcing them to engage in sex acts and sometimes filming the sexual activity.
Kelly, 52, is charged with sex trafficking and attempting to influence a case in Atlanta, and was arrested while walking his dog, a source with knowledge of the arrest said.
It was Homeland Security agents and officers with the New York Police Department who made the arrest, despite the fact that Kelly was in Chicago at the time.
No further details about the latest round of charges have been released.
Kelly's lawyer Steve Greenberg said: "Most, if not all of the conduct alleged, is decades old", adding that his client was aware of the investigations and that the charges were "not a surprise".
In an interview with CBS reporter Gayle King, Kelly became emotional and broke down in tears as they discussed allegations from his past - referring to when he was indicted in 2002 on 13 counts of child pornography before being acquitted in 2008.
