R. Kelly has been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Cook County, Illinois, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune report. According to the Sun-Times, a no-bail warrant for Kelly’s arrest has been issued, and he is due in court on March 8.
At a press conference today (February 22), Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx detailed the charges against R. Kelly. Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse is a Class 2 with a sentencing range of three-to-seven years per count. Foxx said, “We anticipate that Mr. Kelly will appear in bond court tomorrow afternoon.” Find the press conference below.
According to Kimberly Foxx, the first victim (whose initials are H.W.) said she was involved in incidents with R. Kelly between May 26, 1998 and May 25, 1999 when she was under the age of 17 and Kelly was more than five years older than her. A grand jury returned an indictment against Kelly on four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of H.W.
The grand jury returned two more counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a person identified as R.L. According to Fox, incidents occurred between September 26, 1998 and September 25, 2001. R.L. was under the age of 17 and Kelly was more than five years older than her, according to Foxx.
The third victim identified by Kimberly Foxx has the initials L.C. The grand jury indicted Kelly on another count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, stemming from an incident said to have occurred on February 18, 2003. Foxx said the charge is “based on the transmission of semen by Robert Kelly upon any part of the body of the victim for the purpose of sexual gratification during the course of an underlying forcible felony of attempt criminal sexual assault.” L.C. was under the age of 17 and Kelly was more than five years older than her, according to Foxx.
The final three counts stem from incidents with a person (J.P.) that occurred between May 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010. J.P. was under the age of 17 and Kelly was more than five years older than her, according to Foxx.
Pitchfork has contacted R. Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg for comment.
R. Kelly continues to face allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, most recently outlined in the Lifetime series “Surviving R. Kelly.” Last week, it was reported that a videotape that allegedly shows Kelly sexually assaulting an underage girl was handed over to Kimberly Foxx. In January, after Lifetime aired “Surviving R. Kelly,” Foxx held a press conference during which she encouraged any survivors and witnesses with information about Kelly to contact her office in order to initiate an investigation.
Yesterday, two more women stepped forward with more allegations of sexual misconduct levied against Kelly. One of the women, Latrice, said she was 16 years old when Kelly had sexual intercourse with her after giving her drugs and alcohol. The other woman, Rochelle, alleged that Kelly exposed himself to the two of them and asked the then-teenage girls for a threesome.
R. Kelly and his lawyer have continually denied all allegations.
Read “The Struggle to Silence R. Kelly” on the Pitch.
This article was originally published on Friday, February 22 at 1:44 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on February 22 at 3:47 p.m. Eastern.
https://pitchfork.com/news/r-kelly-charged-with-10-counts-of-aggravated-criminal-sexual-abuse-report
