Singer-songwriter R. Kelly was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges by Homeland Security Investigations agents and the NYPD Public Safety Task Force on Thursday (July 11), in Chicago.
Being released on bail just five months prior on additional sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, Kelly has now been indicted on one count of conspiracy to receive child pornography, two counts of receiving child pornography, four counts of producing child pornography, five counts of enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice by a federal grand jury.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the indictment alleges that “Kelly and others engaged in a scheme to coerce minors to participate in sexually explicit acts on camera [in order to] ‘promote R. Kelly’s music and the R. Kelly brand and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly.'”
The 52-year-old is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
Federal authorities have seized over 20 tapes involving underage girls. Gerald Griggs, a lawyer who represents Joycelyn Savage‘s family, stated to TMZ that “several of Kelly’s enablers — past and present — flipped and turned over the tapes to investigators.”
Kelly is looking at a minimum of 15 years in prison if found guilty.
