CHICAGO | R. Kelly was eventually caught by the law. The US star of R & B, accused of multiple sexual assaults for decades, was charged Friday with 10 counts of sexual abuse accompanied by aggravating circumstances. Three of the four alleged victims are minors.
He reportedly went to the authorities on Friday night, a few hours after being formally charged, report several US media.
At a press conference, Kimberly Foxx lodged the charges against Robert Sylvester Kelly of his real name.
Each of the 10 counts of sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances is punishable by between 3 and 7 years in prison.
According to the prosecutor, the alleged crimes date from 1998 to 2010 and were committed against four victims, including three under the age of 17.
A Cook County Court official in the state of Illinois told AFP that these minors were between the ages of 13 and 16 at the time.
R. Kelly will be appearing on March 8, she said.
Contacted by AFP, the singer's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, could not be reached immediately.
" It's finish "
R. Kelly has been accused of such crimes for decades.
He had been charged in 2002 for filming sexual acts between him and a 14-year-old girl, but finally acquitted in 2008.
The singer, one of America's greatest celebrities of the 1990s, was briefly married in 1994 to the 15-year-old star Aaliyah, whose parents had subsequently canceled the marriage. The singer and actress died in a plane crash in 2001.
Despite the accusations, R. Kelly has always seemed to fall between the drops and escape the popular vengeance, thanks to a loyal public who continued to support him.
In a post #MeToo context, he came back in turmoil with the broadcast at the beginning of the year of a documentary implicating him for multiple sexual assaults, especially of girls under 16 years old.
An investigation was opened in New York and the record company Sony Music terminated the contract which bound it to the interpreter of "I Believe I Can Fly".
Last week, high-profile lawyer Michael Avenatti (who notably defends pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in the dispute with President Donald Trump) said he had a new video showing R. Kelly having sex with him. a minor.
He also explained that he had forwarded "this new video evidence establishing the guilt" of the singer to the attorney for Cook County, who charged R. Kelly.
"It's over," said Avenatti Friday on Twitter.
"After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault on underage girls, it is time for R. Kelly to be accountable," he added.
The CNN channel saw the video transmitted by Mr. Avenatti to the authorities.
"We see a naked man who seems to be R. Kelly have several sexual relations with the girl," had described the US channel saying that the girl spoke of her genitals explaining that they were "14 years old".