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R.Kelly has been ordered to report to New York for his arraignment on racketeering charges. The charges that came down on Friday allege that he systematically recruited young girls at concerts across the country for sexual abuse, reports say.
The indicted singer is currently being held without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Downtown Chicago. He will be brought by U.S. Marshals to the federal courthouse in Brooklyn on Aug, 2 for a hearing, according to Chicago Tribune.
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After this hearing, Kelly will be returned to Chicago in time for a Sept. 4 status hearing on a separate indictment for sex related charges, according to the court records.
Another member in Kelly’s case pleaded not guilty on Friday. Former employee Milton “June” Brown, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Chicago for a charge of conspiracy to receive child pornography.
Brown’s 13-count indictment alleges that he and former manager Derrel McDavis conspired with Kelly to throw his 2006 child pornography trial in Chicago by paying off witnesses and victims to change their stories.
The indictment also alleged the three paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to recover sex tapes that included children before they got into the hands of prosecutors.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Kelly and McDavid both previously pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Brown faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison if convicted according to prosecutors. When the indictment became unsealed last week, Brown turned himself into authorities in Las Vegas where he lives. Brown was released on Friday.
“We’re talking seventh and eighth grade girls,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel Krull said. “And it didn’t happen once or twice. He sexually abused them hundreds of times before they turned 18.”
Kelly has been accused of abusing a dozen victims dating back to the 90s, in two federal indictments, and prosecutors predict there are “many more” Krull said.
“The investigation is far from over,” she said.
Kelly alone has a 18-page New York indictment, alleging that his common practice at concerts was for his entourage solicit girls and issue them a wristband to backstage, which gave them direct access to Kelly. He would then identify a girl he wanted to see again and his entourage would get her contact info. Some girls were provided with more backstage passes to party with Kelly, as well as lodging, according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleges Kelly made the girls call him “Daddy” and they weren’t allowed to do simple tasks such as eat, use the bathroom, or even leave their rooms without his permission.
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He also has four separate indictments in Cook County where one woman said she was sexually assaulted and three others were sexually abused. Kelly has pled not guilty to these charges as well.
While Kelly awaits arraignment, he has been held in isolation since his July 11 arrest.
R. Kelly will be held in solitary confinement because he fears for his life in general population: https://t.co/9Wpj2aYdPX pic.twitter.com/29qI6eY5xv
— Complex (@Complex) July 19, 2019
Steven Greenberg, Kelly’s lawyer says he no access to television, and is only allowed five minutes on the phone daily.