R. Kelly has been arrested on federal sex crime charges. According to NBC News 4 (New York), the disgraced R&B singer was arrested in Chicago by New York Police Department detectives and Homeland Security investigators on sex trafficking charges.
According to Chicago Sun-Times, the new indictment by the Northern District of Illinois contains 13 charges, including sex crimes, child pornography and obstruction of justice. He will be arraigned in Illinois and then taken to New York where he will stand trial.
A separate indictment filed in Brooklyn on Friday contains additional charges against Kelly, including racketeering and several violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of individuals across state lines for illicit sexual purposes. “Kelly and his crew traveled throughout the United States and abroad to recruit these women and girls,” the indictment contends. In some cases, women and girls “were not permitted to leave their room without receiving permission from Kelly, including to eat or go to the bathroom.”
That indictment also accuses Kelly of taking a minor to California and committing rape, abduction, carnal abuse of a child, and seduction. Kelly also allegedly exposed at least one minor victim to an infectious venereal disease, according to The New York Times.
Kelly is already facing 40-70 years in prison in Illinois stemming from state charges of aggravated sexual abuse brought against him back in February. After pleading not guilty and posting bail, Kelly was released from Chicago’s Cook County Jail.
Since then, Kelly has failed to show up for scheduled court appearances and even claimed a reading disability. All of this fallout has also impacted his finances as court documents previously revealed that Kelly has less than $700 to his name.
