photo credit: Jamie Lamor Thompson // Shutterstock
R. Kelly has been arrested. Again. O Thursday night, the singer was taken in on multiple federal sex crimes in 2 different states. Kelly was walking his dog in Chicago when he was arrested on a 13-count indictment on charges of child porn, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice.
The second arrest came from Brooklyn, New York, on charges that include sex trafficking. He will be arraigned in Chicago and them taken to New York.
According to the 5-count indictment revealed by TMZ, the Eastern District of NY included racketeering and several violations of the Mann Act and allegations of forced labor. Violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of anyone across state lines for illicit sexual purposes, constitute 4 of the 5 counts against Kelly.
In at least one of the cases, he allegedly took a minor to California and committed 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 indictment, Kelly and others engaged in a scheme to coerce minors to participate in sexually explicit acts on camera. The feds say the purpose of the scheme was 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.” In the docs, federal prosecutors say, “Kelly and his crew traveled throughout the United States and abroad to recruit these women and girls”
The new federal indictment seems to validate claims of parents who say their children were essentially held hostage. The indictment says the women and girls “were not permitted to leave their room without receiving permission from Kelly, including to eat or go to the bathroom.” They were also prohibited from looking at other men and to keep their heads down and call him “Daddy.” The feds also say Kelly made “threats of force and physically restrained the women” to obtain their labor and services.
In June, Kelly plead not guilty to 11 felonies including 5 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, 4 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and 2 counts of criminal sexual assault, in Chicago.
In those legal docs, Kelly is accused of forcing contact between his penis and the alleged victim’s mouth and committing an act of sexual penetration on a victim listed only as “J.P.” The alleged incident occurred in January 2010, when the victim was under the age of 18.
Source: TMZ