The R&B star charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse
The charges involve incidents from 1998 to 2010, the news outlet reported, noting that at least three of the alleged victims are minors. Prosecutors say the minors were between 13 and 16 years old.
According to TMZ, nine of the 10 counts against 52-year-old Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly, involve the young teens.
One of the victims is the subject of four different counts, and there are a total of four alleged victims.
Sources connected to Kelly told TMZ that the singer plans to voluntarily turn himself into authorities Friday night.
The charges come after news outlets reported this week that a grand jury convened in Cook County in connection to a sex tape that allegedly showed Kelly assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing multiple alleged victims of the “I Believe I Can Fly Singer,” said last week that he handed over the videotape to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
“Including in the evidence we recently uncovered and recovered is a VHS videotape of Mr. Kelly engaging in multiple sexual assaults of a girl underage,” Avenatti said in a statement last week on Twitter. “This tape, which is clear, is approximately 45 minutes in length and has never previously been publicly disclosed or, until recently, provided to law enforcement.
“As part of our effort to ensure Mr. Kelly is finally held accountable for his repeated sexual assaults of minors spanning over two decades, we have provided extensive information, including the videotape described above and witnesses, to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago,” the statement read.
Avenatti, who is best known as the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, applauded the charges Friday in a tweet, saying, “After 25 years of serial sex abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived.”
In another tweet minutes before that, Avenatti wrote: “It’s over.”
Two women testified for the grand jury over the past week, including one who provided physical evidence, TMZ reported. They were among as many as a dozen accusers to testify.
Kelly’s attorney, Steven Greenburg, told the Chicago Sun-Times early Friday afternoon that he had not been notified that his client was charged and maintained as he has in the past that Kelly denies any wrongdoing.
Kelly has received multiple Grammys, including for hit song “I Believe I Can Fly.”
At a 2008 trial, jurors acquitted Kelly of child pornography charges, which stemmed from a video prosecutors alleged showed Kelly having sex with a girl as young as 13.
Kelly has denied allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls for years.
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