Grammy-winning singer R. Kelly, who has faced years of sexual abuse allegations, was ordered held on a $1 million bond on Saturday on charges that he sexually assaulted three teenagers and a woman, as prosecutors offered new details in the case.
In Cook County court, prosecutor Jennifer Gonzalez said Kelly met one of the teenaged victims during his trial on child pornography charges in 2008 when she sought his autograph after a day in court and repeatedly had sex with her between 2009 and 2010. Kelly was acquitted of the child porn charges.
He met another victim at her 16th birthday party, Gonzalez said, and had sex with her in the first of many encounters in 1998 after telling her to take a taxi from school to his recording studio. A third charge is based on a videotape that purportedly shows Kelly and a 14-year-old girl engaged in sexual acts sometime between 1998 and 2001.