R. Kelly’s mounting legal troubles are only growing worst ahead of his highly anticipated trial.
Robert Kelly, better known as R. Kelly, has been hold up in an Illinois federal jail for the last few months as he awaits his trial for numerous charges that include child sexual exploitation, child pornography production, kidnapping, forced labor, and obstruction of justice. Allegations of misdemeanors with minors have followed the musician for years, but prosecutors filed indictments towards him in 2019.
Just last month, R. Kelly was hit with 10 new counts of sexual abuse with girls aged 13 to 16 in Chicago, and on Friday, things intensified for the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer in New York. New charges were laid against him in Brooklyn federal court that accuses R. Kelly of raping an underage girl in 2015, videotaping their encounter and giving her herpes, as well as passing the STI on to another woman in 2017, CNN reported. Kelly informed neither woman that he was infected with the disease.
In addition, Kelly was indicted for coercion and enticement, coercion of a minor, and transportation of a minor across state lines after prosecutors found evidence of plane tickets with the girl’s name. Kelly’s problems don’t end there. Prosecutors in Chicago have also added a charge of racketeering after the 53-year-old allegedly supervised an operation that trafficked women and underage girls who attended his shows. Similar accusations formed the basis of the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which exploited a sex cult in the artist’s home.
Hopefully Kelly is comfortable in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Centre as he is looking at a possible 70 years behind bars. With charges filed in both Chicago and New York, he is expected to stand trial in both cities, with the first scheduled for next month and his East Coast trial set for July.
