Within the past hour agents from Homeland Security along with detectives from NYPD special victims unit converged on R. Kelly’s Chicago residence at Trump Towers and arrested singer R. Kelly for sex-trafficking and Obstruction of Justice.
A 13-count Indictment was returned by Northern District of Illinois. Joseph Fitzpatrick, spokesperson for The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District, says the indictment includes charges of child porn and obstruction of justice.
Kelly’s Chicago State charges – which he denies – were filed a month after a revealing six-part documentary, Surviving R Kelly, which shone a spotlight on allegations of sexual misconduct against the star.
The stories go back to the start of his career in the 1990s, with many centering around the predatory pursuit of teenage girls.
Kelly, then aged 27, marries 15-year-old singer Aaliyah at a secret ceremony in Chicago.
Vibe magazine later discovered that Aaliyah had lied on the wedding certificate about her age, listing herself as 18. The marriage was annulled in February 1995.
For the rest of her career, Aaliyah dodged questions about the nature of her relationship. “When people ask me, I tell them, ‘Hey, don’t believe all that mess,'” she told one interviewer. “We’re close and people took it the wrong way.”
Kelly himself has rarely spoken about Aaliyah since she died in a plane crash in 2001. She is not mentioned in his autobiography, where his author’s note explains that “certain episodes could not be included for complicated reasons”.
We have reached out to representatives for some of Kelly’s alleged victims, however no one was willing to comment on the newest charges.
This is a developing story.
