Confusion ensued Friday afternoon when R. Kelly surrendered to Chicago authorities in response to his indictment by a Cook County, Ill. grand jury on child pornography charges. Meanwhile, the 35-year-old R&B superstar’s legal issues might go federal after all is said and done.
When the Grammy Award-winning singer and producer arrived at the Cook County Criminal Courts Building at 26th Street and California Avenue on Chicago’s Near West Side, he was immediately arrested and handcuffed by county sheriff’s deputies after a brief wait there. But then, Kelly ended up in a tug-of-war when those Cook County sheriff’s deputies debated over whether he could be booked there and jailed at adjacent Cook County Correctional Center.
Kelly was eventually taken several blocks away to the 10th Marquette District Chicago Police Department headquarters at 2900 S. Damen Ave. for booking, mug shots, and fingerprinting. That shuffling for Kelly occurred a day after he spent Thursday night at the Polk County, Fla. Central Jail near in the Orlando area town of Bartow following his initial arraignment there. Polk County sheriff’s deputies arrested him Wednesday in front of his rented home some 30 miles away in Davenport, Fla. after a nationwide warrant was issued immediately when the Cook County indictment was returned.
Edward Genson, Kelly’s Florida-based attorney, posted $75,000, or 10 percent of the R&B superstar’s $750,000 bond, to obtain his release from the Polk County lockup. Kelly surrendered to Chicago authorities after returning home to the city by private jet. Kelly was also required to post 10 percent of additional $750,000 bond after he was processed in Chicago.
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The 21 counts of child pornography Kelly was indicted on, each worth a $30,000 fine and maximum 15 years of prison time, were precipitated by a videotape allegedly showing him performing various sexual acts with several teenagers, including a 14-year-old girl at a home he once owned in the Lakeview neighborhood on Chicago’s Near North Side. Making a pornographic motion picture with a teenager under age 18 is a felony in Illinois
Law enforcement sources in South Florida say that because child pornography is also a federal offense and FBI imaging of the 26-minute videotape provided the key evidence leading to the Cook County indictment, Kelly might additional face federal charges.
Kelly’s first hearing in Cook County Criminal Court is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jun. 26.
