Embattled R&B superstar R. Kelly will turn himself in to authorities Friday night and is scheduled to appear in bond court in Chicago Saturday to face charges of 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Cook County prosecutors alleged in an explosive indictment filed Friday that the abuse involved four victims, at least three of them minors, in instances from 1998 to 2010.
The minors were between 13 and 16, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors appeared before Judge Dennis Porter Friday, who approved a no-bail warrant for Kelly, records show. It’s unclear when Kelly will turn himself in to authorities.
At a news conference Friday, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx briefly went through the charges against Kelly, 51. Each count is a Class 2 felony, each of which can be punished by three to seven years in prison or as little as probation.
Foxx answered no questions at the news conference.
Kelly’s attorney, Steven Greenberg, said before Foxx’s news conference that he had not been notified that his client had been charged. Later Friday afternoon, Greenberg told reporters outside R. Kelly’s Near West Side studio that Kelly would be cleared.
“He’s going to go to bond court, and he’s gonna get out,” he said. “They’re making him a sacrificial lamb for their own sake and there’s no merit to any of this.”
Kelly has been dogged by allegations of sexual impropriety for two decades, charges that were first detailed by the Chicago Sun-Times. The indictment on Friday marks the first time he has been charged with any crimes since he was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008 in a case that received international attention.
In the 36-page indictment, prosecutors outline a variety of alleged sexual misconduct against Kelly. The victims were only identified by their initials.
In one instance, he allegedly ejaculated on the victim’s body “for the purpose of Robert Kelly’s or L.C.’s sexual gratification or arousal,” the indictment says.
In the three other instances, the victims performed oral sex on Kelly, the document says.
Michael Avenatti, a well-known attorney who said he recently provided a videotape of R. Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, said at a news conference in Chicago Friday afternoon that he is representing at least one of the girls that were included in the indictment handed down.
He declined to identify his client, who he said was a minor at the time of the alleged abuse. He also declined to say what his client told a grand jury investigating the singer.
“Today marks a watershed movement in the 25 years of abuse by this predator, R. Kelly,” Avenatti said.
He said R. Kelly was able to get away with the alleged abuse for years because the victims were girls who weren’t listened to and weren’t valued.
“These were the most vulnerable, yet this predator, Mr. Kelly, preyed on them,” he said.
And he ripped Kelly’s “enablers” — agents, bodyguards and other workers for Kelly — that “turned a blind eye while this occurred over two decades.”
Avenatti said he turned over a 40-minute video shot in 1999 at R. Kelly’s residence at the time allegedly showing the singer having sex with a teen girl. He did not say whether the video was part of the evidence used to indict Kelly.
“Repeatedly on the video, both the victim and Mr. Kelly refer to the victim’s age as being 14,” he said. He added: “This was in no way role playing. … It is clear that this young lady was 14 years of age during the time when it was shot.”
Asked if he had a message to R. Kelly, Avenatti said:
“It is high-time that you face justice for the conduct you have engaged in for over two decades and don’t count on getting out of prison,” he said.
The new charges against Kelly come less than two months after Foxx made a public plea for new Kelly accusers to come forward so that the office could investigate. Foxx said she was “sickened” by the accounts described in the “Surviving R. Kelly” Lifetime television series. The Sun-Times reported that at least two women came forward after Foxx made her plea, although one later said she had declined to press charges.
A Sun-Times reporter told one of the women of Kelly’s criminal charges Friday afternoon, to which she replied: “Awesome. Thank God. That’s a blessing. I’m so happy.”
Several media outlets have reported that Kelly is also under federal investigation as well as under investigation in other cities.
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Our coverage of the R. Kelly investigation
A timeline of the R. Kelly child pornography case
