R. Kelly Reportedly Arrested In Chicago On New Federal Sex Crime Charges

The singer R. Kelly was arrested by federal agents and New York Police Department officers in Chicago on Thursday on a new spate of federal sex crime charges, officials confirmed.

The 13-count indictment against Kelly includes charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois told local media outlets.
 

Breaking from the U.S. Attorney spokesman: R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago tonight on charges contained in a 13-count indictment returned today in Chicago (Northern District of Illinois). The indictment includes charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice.

— Patrick Smith (@pksmid) July 12, 2019

More details of the case are expected to be announced Friday. NYPD had not confirmed Kelly’s apprehension to HuffPost as of late Thursday.

Kelly, 52, has long faced allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. In February, he was arrested in Chicago and indicted on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four victims, including three underage girls. He was charged with 11 additional counts in May, including aggravated criminal sexual assault.

The charges involved incidents spanned from 1998 to 2010 and included alleged victims who were ages 13 to 16 at the time.

He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney, Steve Greenberg told The Associated Press at the time of the initial charges that Kelly was “shellshocked” by the indictments.

Kelly was first tried in 2008 on charges stemming from claims he had sex with a teenage girl and filmed the encounter. But he was acquitted on all counts after the alleged victim refused to testify against him.

In March, “CBS This Morning” host Gayle King conducted a remarkable interview with Kelly in which she pressed him on the charges. The singer vehemently denied the accusations, pleading with King that he was “fighting” for his life. At one point he burst into tears, jumped out of his seat and screamed that he “didn’t do this stuff.”

“Hate me if you want to, love me if you want,” Kelly said during the interview. “But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through — oh, right now I just think I need to be a monster, hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, don’t let them out!”

Mary Papenfuss contributed to this report.