R&B singer R. Kelly was arrested Thursday in Chicago on 13 federal charges, including sex trafficking, child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
What We Know:
- Officials say that Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was walking his dog in Chicago when he was arrested by Homeland Security Investigation agents and NYPD Public Safety Task Force. He is now being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
- There are separate federal indictments filed in Chicago and Brooklyn. Kelly is expected to make a court appearance in Chicago on Friday and is expected to ultimately be brought to New York to face additional charges. Kelly has already pled not guilty to more than 20 sexual charges.
- It was reported that Kelly’s former manager, Derrel McDavid, and his employee Milton Brown, were also charged on allegations they helped Kelly pay thousands of dollars to recover child pornography tapes.
- The 52-year-old has been the subject of different sexual abuse allegations for nearly two decades, with some of the alleged acts dating back to 1998.
- More recently, the singer was charged in May for 11 counts of sexual offenses, three of them relating to sexual assault and abuse of a minor between the ages of 13 and 16. In February he was charged with 10 counts for aggravated sexual abuse involving four women, three of which were minors. He was released from Chicago’s Cook County Jail on a $1 million bond for those charges. It’s not known if the new charges are linked to his previous cases.
Lifetime did a 6-part docu-series, “Surviving R. Kelly,” which featured a few survivors detailing the sexual abuse allegations against the singer. BossFM Radio hosts Alex Unmuted and Tiffanie Lanelle did a three-part panel discussion unpacking the series and can be listened here.
