His lawyer has released a statement
Singer R. Kelly has turned himself over to the Chicago police, hours after he was indicted on multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Three of the alleged victims are aged between 13 and 17.
On Friday night, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Kim Foxx announced that 10 counts were made against the 52-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly.
She said that the abuse dated back as far as 1998 and spanned more than a decade.
After arriving at the precinct shortly after 20:15, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted that the singer was under arrest.
For clarification on the CPD arrest process: Mr. Kelly will be fingerprinted, photographed & processed tonight. He will remain in Chicago police custody. Tomorrow morning he will take a prisoner transport to Court where custody will be transferred to the Sheriff of Cook County.
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 23, 2019
Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, released a statement which said: “Mr. Kelly is strong, he’s got a lot of support and he’s going to be vindicated on all these charges — one by one if it has to be. He is extraordinarily disappointed and depressed. He is shell-shocked by this,” he added.
The singer is scheduled to appear in court on Saturday for a bail hearing and a court date was scheduled for 8 March in Chicago, where he resides, a Cook County clerk said earlier.
The indictment accuses Kelly of sexual acts with three children older than 13 but younger than 17. There is no age range listed for one of the alleged victims.
The charges say that Kelly used force or the threat of force.
If convicted, the singer faces three to seven years in prison for each count.
Throughout his career, Kelly has been associated with accusations of abuse, manipulation and inappropriate sexual encounters with girls and young women.
He has strongly denied the accusations.
Kelly is also currently the subject of other investigations with regards to accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct.
Attorney Michael Avenatti has also handed over a tape to the State’s Attorney’s Office which he claims shows Kelly having sex with an underage girl.
“This tape leaves no question as to whether R. Kelly is guilty of multiple sexual, illegal acts against a 14-year-old girl,” he told reporters. He also said that Foxx’s investigation was “very thorough … dedicated and methodical.
During an interview on SiriusXM’s The Karen Hunter Show, Avenatti stated that he’s currently working pro bono for two victims, two parents, and two informants who were a part of Kelly’s inner circle.
“I’m very satisfied today as a father, as a lawyer, as a guy that believes in right and wrong and justice, that the day of reckoning has come for R. Kelly. He will, he will not survive this. The evidence is significant. It is insurmountable and I’d be very surprised if after he is convicted, if he ever walks another day free for as long as he lives, and frankly that would be justice in this case because this guy is a predator who is preyed on, again, some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society and he deserves to go away for a very long time,” said Avenatti.
