R. Kelly was hit with nearly a dozen more brand new child sex crime charges in Illinois on Thursday, according to a new report. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged the disgraced singer.
“Details are still developing, but some of the charges are Class X felonies,” CBS Chicago reported. “The victims are between the ages of 13 and 16, according to court records. The charges include aggravated criminal sex assault, criminal sex assault and aggravated criminal sex abuse.”
CBS Chicago later reported that four of the new charges were Class X felonies.
According to USA Today, a Class X felony “could land Kelly in prison for six to 30 years should he be convicted on any of them.” The Illinois General Assembly wrote on its website that a prison sentence for anyone convicted of a Class X felony “shall be not less than 30 years and not more than 60 years.”
There was also reportedly no probation for anyone convicted of a Class X felony.
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The new charges were on top of the existing 10 counts of child sex abuse he was already facing.
Kelly was scheduled to return to court on June 6.
The new charges came as the singer was perhaps having the worst five months of his career. After a docuseries about multiple women who have accused him of abusing them as teens debuted in January, Kelly’s livelihood has been in a steady nosedive.
Police charged him in February with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse, after which he was arrested at least twice more on related charges.
Kelly was arrested Feb. 23 after surrendering to Chicago police following his indictment on the same day for 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. After spending the weekend in jail because he arguably had trouble paying the $100,000 for bail, a woman friend of his posted his bond.
Kelly was taken into custody again for failing to pay more than $160,000 in child support but was released a few days later after someone else paid his bond.
One major legal problem that Kelly faces is that Illinois has no statute of limitations on sex crimes against minors. In 2017, Illinois enacted legislation that ended a requirement for child sex abuse victims to file a report within 20 years of turning 18 years old.
“The new charges resulted from an offense that allegedly took place in 2010,” USA Today reported. “Because few details were made available, it’s not clear whether the victim from that case is new or one of the women from the 10 counts filed against him in February.”
This is a developing story that will be updated as more information becomes available.
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