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Singer R Kelly arrested
06/06/2002 07:07 - (SA)
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| R&B singer R.Kelly (Reuters) |
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Andrew Stern
Chicago - Chart-topping rhythm and blues singer R Kelly has been arrested on charges of producing child pornography based on a videotape he allegedly made with an underage girl that has become a bootleg best-seller on street corners, officials have said.
Kelly was arrested on Wednesday afternoon as he left a residence in central Florida's Polk County a few hours after authorities issued a nationwide warrant for him, police said. He was being held on $750 000 bond, a spokesperson for the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
"Decency and the law demand this indictment today," Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard told a news conference. "It's unfortunate to see Mr Kelly's talents go to waste but it becomes a tragedy when behaviour damages the community."
Kelly, a two-time Grammy Award winner, issued a statement through a Los Angeles publicist saying, "Even though I don't believe any of these charges are warranted, I'm grateful that I will have a chance to establish the truth about me in a court of law.
"I have complete faith in our system of justice, and I am confident that when all the facts come out, people will see that I'm no criminal," said Kelly, who has previously dismissed the videotape as a fake.
Kelly's lawyer, Edward Genson, said the girl on the tape was not underage, and that Kelly would plead not guilty.
Kelly (35) could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine said. He said the indictment handed up by a grand jury consisted of 21 counts of videotaping, producing or soliciting for child pornography.
Polk County sheriff's deputies put a home in Haines City under surveillance on Wednesday after being alerted by Chicago police. They arrested Kelly when he left the residence during the afternoon, said sheriff's spokesperson Kim Garrett.
Kelly was taken initially to a sheriff's command centre in Winter Haven and was later due to be taken to the county jail in Bartow, Garrett said.
About a dozen fans appeared outside the command centre and shouted words of encouragement at the singer when he was escorted in, she said.
Kelly's indictment resulted from a 26-minute videotape sent anonymously to the Chicago Sun-Times in February, copies of which have been sold on street corners nationwide, which appears to depict Kelly, whose given name is Robert, engaging in sex acts with a girl. The paper turned the video over to the police.
'Girl was underage'
The tape was made at Kelly's luxurious Chicago apartment sometime between 1997 and when the newspaper obtained its copy, the indictment said. Kelly either knew, or should have known, the girl was born in September 1984 and was therefore a minor.
Hillard said anyone caught selling or in possession of the tape would be in violation of child pornography laws. "It would be my advice to you to dispose of these tapes," he said.
Kelly, the target of numerous lawsuits or threatened suits from women who alleged they were underage when he had sex with them or videotaped them without their knowledge, has settled some for cash.
Police said on Wednesday FBI experts had examined the tape and determined it was authentic and that the figures were in fact Kelly and the underage girl.
Kelly told an interviewer on Black Entertainment Network television a month ago that he was no monster. "If people out there have a tape of me and they're saying it's me and a young girl, a minor ... then they're sadly mistaken or they're lying. I can say with all confidence it's not me."
Kelly, whose lyrics range from the religious to "bump-and-grind" love songs, was discovered singing in the Chicago subways for change and became a top-selling singer and producer, writing the 1996 single I Believe I Can Fly for the movie Space Jam. He has sold millions of records, topping the charts in 2000 with TP-2.Com, and he performed at the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Kelly's recent release with the rapper Jay-Z, The Best of Both Worlds, has been a poor seller and Jay-Z has refused to promote it because of the allegations against Kelly.
Kelly first married his 15-year-old protege Aaliyah Haughton in 1994, but the marriage to the future singing star was soon annulled. She died in a plane crash in August. Kelly married a dancer in his touring group in 1996 and has two daughters and a son.
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