R. Kelly has been charged with 11 new counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse, the Chicago Tribune‘s Megan Crepeau reports.
In the court documents obtained Thursday, the charges can run up to a potential sentence of 30 years if he is convicted, per the Chicago Sun-Times. The news comes after Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in February. Four of the counts from the new case include aggravated criminal sexual assault, which is all classified as Class X felonies. In addition to those four counts, the R&B singer will also face two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse upon a victim between the ages of 13 and 16.
Details are still fresh on the matter, though R. Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, spoke to the Sun-Times on the allegations and charges.
“We’ll see what the charges are, and we’ll proceed accordingly,” Greenberg said. “I know this much: it’s old. They’re allegations from years ago.”
“With the latest charges brought against Robert Kelly, he still maintains his innocence and denies all accusations brought against him,” Darrell Johnson, a representative for Kelly, tells NBC Chicago. “He looks forward to a swift and speedy trial.”
On Wednesday, several of R. Kelly’s accusers testified before the federal grand jury about the travel details the singer went through to secure underaged girls for sexual purposes. Per a report by TMZ, one of the alleged victims told the jury that the singer’s team paid off witnesses so that they wouldn’t testify against him in his 2008 child pornography trial, in which he was acquitted.
“The grand jury is keying into allegations Kelly and his team attempted to impact the outcome of the 2008 trial through witness intimidation and threats of bodily harm,” the celebrity site reports. “The grand jury testimony also revealed that witnesses in the 2008 case were allegedly sent on vacation when the trial was underway so they wouldn’t be available to testify.”
