R. Kelly has been denied release on bond after being arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in Chicago Thursday (July 11), it is being reported.
Kelly was walking his dog near his home in Chicago at 7pm local time on July 11 when he was arrested.
US attorney spokesperson James Fitzpatrick said in a statement that Kelly had been arrested on a total of 13 counts including child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice.
According to Pitchfork, during Kelly’s bond hearing today (July 16) in Chicago, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber said that the singer’s child pornography charge has “presumption of detention.” Kelly pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It isn’t yet clear whether these charges relate to previous charges levelled against the singer, who was released on $100,000 bail in June after pleading not guilty to 11 counts of sexual assault and abuse. Those charges were said to have taken place against a girl aged between 13 and 16 between May 2009 to January 2010.
A separate indictment was filed in Brooklyn last week (July 12), which contained additional charges against the singer. They include racketeering and several violations of the Mann Act, which forbids the transportation of individuals across state lines for the purposes of prostitution.
According to Consequence Of Sound, the indictment claims that “Kelly and his crew traveled throughout the United States and abroad to recruit these women and girls”, with some women “not permitted to leave their room without receiving permission from Kelly, including to eat or go to the bathroom.”
The singer is also accused of committing rape, abduction, carnal abuse of a child, and seduction in the case of a minor he allegedly took to California, and of exposing at least one minor to an infectious venereal disease.
In a statement, Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg said the federal charges “appears to largely be the same” as what he has been charged with in state court and that the musician “was aware of the investigations and the charges were not a surprise.”
He continued: “He and his lawyers look forward to his day in court, to the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain.” Greenberg added that Kelly looks forward to being able to get back to making music and performing “for his legions of fans that believe in him.”
Kelly, 52, was found not guilty on child pornography charges in 2008.
In February, Kelly pleaded not guilty to sex-related charges in Illinois involving four women. Three of the women were minors when the abuse is alleged to have occurred.
The recent series of charges against Kelly occurred after a TV documentary, Surviving R. Kelly, was screened by Lifetime. In the programme, seven women including Kelly’s ex-wife Drea Kelly accused the singer of emotional and sexual abuse.
Kelly has vigorously denied all allegations levelled against him.