R Kelly charged with criminal sexual abuse

R. Kelly has been charged with criminal sexual abuse in Cook County, court records show Friday.

The 52-year-old R&B star faces 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, with nine of the 10 charges specifying victims were between 13 and 16 years old.

The tenth charge, according to online statutes, is aggravated criminal sexual abuse during the commission of another felony.

Kelly is scheduled to appear in court March 8 in the case and an arrest warrant has been issued, records show.

In Illinois, aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a class 2 felony. It can carry a sentence of between 3 and 7 years in prison. A person convicted of this offense has to register as a sex offender.

The news comes just hours before attorney Michael Avenatti scheduled a 4 p.m. press conference in Chicago to discuss “details of the investigation.”

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

Avenatti, who previously reported he gave video evidence to Cook County prosecutors, said he planned to discuss a “major development in the case” and told The Associated Press he has evidence R. Kelly and his “enablers” paid witnesses and others to “rig” the outcome of the R&B star’s 2008 trial, when he was acquitted on child pornography charges.

Kelly has denied allegations of sexual misconduct involving women and underage girls for years. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Avenatti said last week that his office has been “quietly” investigating allegations made against embattled singer R. Kelly and confirmed his office gave a VHS videotape to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx that allegedly features R. Kelly. He noted the video “has never previously been publicly disclosed or, until recently, provided to law enforcement.” The roughly 45-minutes of footage purportedly shows Kelly “engaging in multiple sexual assaults of a girl underage,” Avenatti said.

CNN reported it has seen the videotape and reporter Jim DeRogatis, who has been covering Kelly for more than a decade, wrote in the New Yorker that a senior law enforcement official indicated the footage could lead to an indictment in the case.