R. Kelly to Face Charges in New York on Aug. 2
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R. Kelly has been ordered brought to New York for his arraignment on racketeering charges that allege he recruited young girls for sexual abuse at concerts across the country, according to the Chicago Tribune. The charges are part of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against the singer that have been filed this year.
Kelly, who is being held without bond in Chicago, will be brought by U.S. Marshals to the federal courthouse in Brooklyn for an Aug. 2 hearing, the Tribune reported, citing court records. He will be returned to Chicago for a status hearing on Sept. 4 on a separate indictment.
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Also Friday, former Kelly employee Milton “June” Brown pleaded not guilty before a federal magistrate judge in Chicago to a charge of conspiracy to receive child pornography. Brown turned himself in to authorities last week; on Friday a judge ordered him released on his own recognizance.
Kelly was ordered held without bond at a hearing Tuesday in federal court in Chicago. The singer entered a not-guilty plea.
The hearing, which follows the singer being hit last Friday with a total of 18 counts of serious sexual misconduct and other charges in Chicago and New York, was to determine whether Kelly should be released from custody the charges play out. Prosecutors argued that he should not be released.
“This risk of obstruction is real. This risk is ongoing. This risk is heightened by the defendant’s fame and power,” one assistant U.S. attorney told the judge, Harry Leinenweber, at Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago. The singer “has a unique ability to influence and intimidate witnesses and victims, and that continues to this day.”
If found guilty, Kelly, 52, could receive a minimum of 15 years behind bars and a maximum sentence of 195 years in prison based on the Chicago charges alone. He has been incarcerated in Chicago’s Metropolitan Correctional Center since agents arrested him near his home in Trump Tower early Thursday evening.
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