R. Kelly charged with 11 new counts of sex abuse and assault

R. Kelly has been charged with 11 additional counts of sexual abuse, it has been revealed. 

Chicago prosecutors charged him with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.   

His alleged victims are between the ages of 13 and 16. 

The four aggravated criminal sex assault charges are class X felonies in Illinois, which are punishable by six to 30 years in prison. All 11 charges are felonies. 

The charges are far more serious than any of Kelly’s additional pending cases. 

In February, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four women, including the woman who won a default judgement against him

In February, Kelly was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four women. Three of the women were under the age of 17 at the time of the alleged assaults.

It remains unclear if this week’s charges involve new victims or if they include those from the cases that Kelly was charged with in February. 

One of the four women filed a $50,000 civil suit against Kelly earlier this year. She claims to have met Kelly in May 1998 when she was walking down the street in Chicago. 

The woman alleges that Kelly spotted her and pulled his car over so that he could talk to her. She was a minor at the time. 

On that same day, one of Kelly’s associates met with the girl and her family at a restaurant and gave her the singer’s phone number. 

The associate said that Kelly wanted the girl to come to his studio and ‘be in a video that he was making’, the suit claims. 

‘[She] was star struck and wanted to meet the defendant to pursue a role in what she believed was a music video,’ it added. 

The woman said that Kelly began to abuse her about a month later and that it lasted for a year. She alleges that she had sexual intercourse with Kelly as well as oral sex. 

One woman claims to have met Kelly in May 1998 when she was walking down the street in Chicago. She was a minor at the time and he asked her to be in his music video. Kelly is pictured here in March after being freed from prison 

‘During these repeated incidents, [Kelly] represented to the minor plaintiff that this behavior was appropriate,’ the lawsuit reads.  

Darrell Johnson, Kelly’s publicist, said in April that the rapper and his team are unbothered by recent legal developments.   

‘We don’t care about the lawsuit,’ he said. ‘The lawsuit means nothing to us.’  

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, pleaded not guilty in February to the charges that he sexually assaulted the three teen girls and a fourth adult woman.  

The woman said that Kelly (pictured February 2018) began to abuse her about a month later and that it lasted for a year. She alleges that she had sexual intercourse with Kelly and oral sex

The charges were brought against him after seven women, including his ex-wife, appeared on the Lifetime television documentary Surviving R Kelly and accused him of emotional and sexual abuse.

Kelly spent a weekend in prison on the sex charges before being released on $100,000 bail on February 25.

But he was arrested again on March 6 for failing to pay child support to his ex-wife, just hours after lashing out in a television interview with CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King when she questioned him about the sexual assault charges.

He was released from jail on March 9 after a child support payment of more than $161,000 was made to Andrea Kelly.