R. Kelly has now been served with 11 new felony sexual misconduct counts that include charges more serious than the ones he received in February. He could be facing 30 years in prison.
On Thursday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cook County prosecutors charged the disgraced singer with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim between the ages of 13 to 16.
The details surrounding the new counts aren’t listed in the charging document, but it has to do with an alleged incident that occurred in January 2010.
The initials on the document are also the same initials on papers previously filed in February when Kelly was hit with 10 counts of sexual abuse.
The new charges were announced one day after some of Kelly’s accusers testified before a grand jury in a sex trafficking probe launched by the Northern District of Illinois.
A TMZ source claims that several of the singer’s accusers said his handlers made arrangements for them to travel across state lines to engage in sex.
Kelly could also face obstruction of justice charges, because it was also revealed during testimony that his team allegedly bribed witnesses in 2008 when he faced child pornography charges.
Others who spoke on Wednesday said they were sent on vacation during that 2008 trial so they couldn’t testify, and the travel arrangements were handled by Kelly’s team.
The 2008 charges stemmed from a videotape that prosecutors claimed depicted Kelly urinating on a girl who allegedly was his underage goddaughter. The alleged victim didn’t testify, however, and the singer was acquitted.
Kelly’s handlers are also being accused of trying to intimidate the 2008 witnesses with physical threats in an attempt to affect the ruling. The Northern District of Illinois probe is separate from two others that are currently going on in New York.
In February, the 52-year-old was hit with 10 counts of sexual abuse that involve four alleged victims, three of whom were allegedly underage.
The indictment came after years of rumors that Kelly had a penchant for young girls, and in January after the docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” aired the allegations received even more attention.
