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Artist News Legal
R Kelly facing new sex crimes charges in Minnesota
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 6 August 2019
R Kelly is facing more criminal charges relating to sexual crimes, this time in Minnesota. He has been charged with two counts of prostitution and soliciting a minor. The musician is already being held without bail as criminal cases in relation to other sex abuse charges go through the motions in both Chicago and New York.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement yesterday that Kelly met his latest alleged victim in Minneapolis in 2001, while in the city for promotional work. She asked him for an autograph and received his signature along with a phone number, it is alleged.
When she rang the number, she was invited to Kelly’s hotel. There she was allegedly offered and accepted $200 to take her clothes off and dance. Kelly then took off his own clothes and danced with her. The girl was seventeen at the time and reportedly made Kelly aware of this fact.
Freeman said that the investigation into the allegations came after a tip was received through a phone line set up by prosecutors in Chicago earlier this year. “We felt we had more than enough to charge based on her testimony and corroboration from her brother”, he said.
According to legal papers, the alleged victim told her brother that she had danced for Kelly in return for money shortly afterwards and, although she did not go into further details, “looked very uncomfortable discussing the matter”.
“It is despicable that Mr Kelly used his fame in order to prey on underaged girls”, Freeman said, according to Variety. “While there are more numerous charges in the Illinois and federal cases, we wanted to make sure that our victim here in Minneapolis also receives a measure of justice. We fully expect that at some future date, Mr Kelly will have to account for his actions in Hennepin County”.
Responding to the new claims on Twitter, Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg tweeted: “Give me a break. This is beyond absurd”. Meanwhile, in a statement to Fox News he added: “That case is a pure publicity grab by the prosecutor”.
