R Kelly

R. Kelly turned himself in to Chicago on Friday night. The 52-year-old R&B singer/songwriter is charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal abuse after decades of allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls and adult women.

R Kelly

Cook County officials issued a no-bail arrest warrant on Friday. News footage shows the singer leaving his recording studio around 7:30 p.m. ET, as a swarm of reporters shout questions at him.

He got into a black van which transported him to the 1st District police headquarters. There he was taken into custody by police.

R Kelly

A bond hearing is set for Saturday afternoon, CBS Chicago reports.

A judge signed the no-bail warrant for Kelly’s arrest at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The indictment indicated there are four female victims. Three victims are females under the age of 17.

The victims are identified by their initials in the indictment.

  • H.W. (13-16 years of age), victim of four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse between May 26, 1998, and May 25, 1999;
  • J.P. (13-16 years of age), victim of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse between May 1, 2009, and Jan. 31, 2010;
  • R.L. (13-16 years of age), victim of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse between Sept. 26, 1998, and Sept. 25, 2001;
  • L.C. (no age given), victim of one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse on Feb. 18, 2003
  •  
    In the case of the victim whose age is not given, Kelly is accused of sexual contact by use of force or the threat of force.

    Eddie Johnson, Kim Foxx

    After Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announced the charges on Friday, Kelly’s defense attorney Steve Greenberg said Kelly was a “sacrificial lamb, there is no merit to this.”

    Greenberg said he expected Kelly to appear in court and post bond on Saturday. He said Kelly will ultimately be acquitted “because he didn’t do anything.”

    When a reporter asked Greenberg if he thought Kelly’s accusers were lying, he replied, “Yes.”

    “All of them?” the reporter asked.

    “I think all the women are lying, yes,” Greenberg said.

    The news comes a month after Kelly was accused of sexual misconduct by several adult women in the Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly. The women were all consenting adults at the time the abuse was alleged to have occurred.

    Last week, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti turned over a VHS videotape that shows the singer allegedly performing sex acts with an underage girl.

    Avenatti, who is representing women accusing Kelly of sexual abuse, tweeted “it’s over” shortly after the charges were announced Friday. Avenatti held a news conference to discuss allegations against Kelly, saying he believes Kelly “will rightfully die in a prison” and “should never walk free a day in his life.”

    “After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived,” Avenatti tweeted on Friday.

    Kelly was acquitted of 13 counts of child pornography related to a video that allegedly showed him having sex with a 14-year-old girl in 2008.
     

    Photos by Scott Olson/Getty Images