R. Kelly’s Bail Set at $1 Million in Chicago Abuse Case

R. Kelly Booking Photo (Credit: Chicago Police Department)

UPDATED with bond hearing: A judge set R. Kelly’s bond at $1 million during a hearing Saturday in Chicago. Judge John F. Lyke Jr. — the same judge in the Jussie Smollett case — set bond at $250,000 for each of the four alleged victims in R. Kelly’s abuse case. CBS 2 Chicago reported the singer remained in jail Saturday night because he “doesn’t have the $100,000 bail” — or 10 percent of his bond.

Previously…
Nearly eleven years after he was acquitted on child pornography charges, R. Kelly found himself in police custody again Friday night, this time to face charges of molesting underage girls.

At 9:29 p.m. ET, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi posted a statement on social media announcing the R&B superstar was behind bars.

“Singer/songwriter Robert Kelly (R. Kelly) is under arrest and in Chicago police custody,” Guglielmi wrote on Twitter.

Chicago Sun Times reporter Nader Issa tweeted video of Kelly walking into a police station surrounded by reporters and photographers.

The arrest came after Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx held a news conference earlier in the day, saying Kelly had been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four females, including three minors.

Three of the four victims were between ages 13 and 17 when the alleged abuse occurred between 1998 and 2010, Foxx told reporters. The prosecutor later posted a detailed account of the charges on Twitter.

A warrant was issued for Kelly’s arrest, and prosecutors scheduled his arraignment for March 8.

Attorney Michael Avenatti, who revealed earlier this month that he had obtained a videotape from the 1990s that allegedly showed Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl, also spoke with reporters Friday in Chicago.

In a message posted on Twitter, Avenatti said the law had finally caught up with the Grammy-winning singer.

“After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived,” he tweeted.

Avenatti said he obtained the tape from a whistleblower and handed it over to police.

The VHS tape is said to contain two scenes, one in a living room and the other in a bedroom, and shows a naked man who appears to be R. Kelly performing sex acts with a girl who appears to be underage.

The girl refers to the man on the tape as “daddy” several times, and refers to her body as “14-year-old p—-y” several times.

These latest developments unfolded after the Jan. 3 premiere of Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly.

The six-part docuseries addressed claims that the R&B singer had sex with numerous underage girls, and alleged that he had a history of picking up teenagers at a high school in Chicago and at shopping malls during his tour stops. It included interviews with former employees, musical collaborators and his ex-wife.

Kelly, 52, has strongly denied the claims against him. In June of 2008, he was found not guilty of multiple counts of possession of child pornography in connection with another sex tape with a girl said to be 14-years-old.