R. Kelly accused of paying off alleged victims to avoid investigators
R. Kelly will spend the weekend in jail after he was hit with new federal sex trafficking charges. The singer was arrested in Chicago Thursday night while walking his dog and now faces more than a dozen additional charges including child pornography. The federal charges he is facing could put him in prison for life.
Kelly's crisis manager, Darrell Johnson, was confronted Friday in Atlanta by the parents of Joycelyn Savage. They believe their adult daughter has been brainwashed by the singer and held against her will.
According to the 13 count federal indictment in Illinois, 52-year-old Kelly recorded himself having sex with minors. His former manager, Derrel McDavid, who was also charged in the coverup, pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, in 2001, "Kelly and McDavid learned that multiple videos were missing from Kelly's collection." Worried that the tapes would get out, court records say, "Kelly, McDavid, and others agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars on Kelly's behalf to victims, witnesses, and others to ensure that they would not cooperate with law enforcement."
Even after getting those tapes back, court documents state Kelly and McDavid directed people who returned the tapes to take polygraph tests to determine if they had made copies. Kelly apparently also paid an alleged victim and her parents to travel to foreign countries to avoid investigators.
The New York federal charges Kelly faces include racketeering, kidnapping, and interstate transportation of victims for illegal sex acts. The three-time Grammy winner allegedly had an enterprise that included managers, bodyguards and drivers, all of whom recruited women and girls as far back as 1999.
"I don't think people accidentally have sex so i'm not really sure what the criminal activity is there," said Steve Greenberg, Kelly's attorney.
Kelly, who remains in custody won't be arraigned until Tuesday in Chicago. Kelly maintains he is innocent.
