R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual trafficking-nationwide

Fallen R & B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Wednesday for using his fame to expose young fans (some of them children only) to systematic sexual abuse. It was done.

Through tears and anger, some of Kelly’s whistleblowers told the court and him that he preyed on them and misled fans.

“You made me break my mind. One of the unnamed survivors spoke directly to Kelly, who had folded his hands and kept his eyes down.

“Do you remember that?” She added.

Kelly, 55, did not speak in the sentence and was ordered to pay a $ 100,000 fine there as well. A Grammy-winning singer and songwriter selling multi-platinum last year spoke to a accuser who had previously wondered if his story was being ignored because he was a black woman. I was convicted of singer and sexual trafficking in a trial.

“Sex was certainly the weapon you used, but it’s not the case with sex. It’s about violence, atrocities, and control,” US District Judge Ann Donnelly told him.

The ruling concludes Kelly’s slow-motion slump, which was loved by a corps of fans and sold millions of albums, even after allegations of the abuse of young girls began to spread publicly in the 1990s.

Widespread anger at Kelly’s sexual misconduct did not come until #MeToo calculated and reached crescendo after the release of the documentary. Surviving R. Kelly..

Kelly’s lawyer argued that he should not exceed 10 years in prison for having a traumatic childhood “with serious and lengthy child sexual abuse, poverty and violence.”

As an adult with “lack of literacy,” Star was “repeatedly scammed and financially abused by those who paid to protect him,” his lawyer said.

Trend story

• Six police officers were injured and two suspects were killed in a shooting at British Columbia Bank’s Saanich

• “We are suffocating”: Details will be revealed when 21 teens are found dead at a South African nightclub

Hitmakers are known for their work, including 1996 hits i believe i can fly And cult classic Trapped in the closetA multi-part story of sexual betrayal and conspiracy.

Allegations that Kelly abused a young girl began to spread publicly in the 1990s. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who complained of sexual assault and sexual harassment when she was a minor, and later faced a criminal accusation of child pornography related to another girl in Chicago. A jury there acquitted him in 2008 and he settled his proceedings.

Meanwhile, Kelly continued to sell millions of albums.

A jury trial in a federal court in Brooklyn convicted him after hearing that he used his manager and aides to meet the girl and keep her obedient.

Born in Robert Sylvester Kelly, Kelly systematically “preys on children and young women for their sexual satisfaction,” using his “fame, money, and popularity,” prosecutors said earlier this month. I wrote in the court that submitted it.

Some whistleblowers testified that Kelly exposed them to the sadistic whims of twisting them when they were minors.

The whistleblower was ordered to sign a nondisclosure agreement and claimed to have been threatened and punished, including violent spanking, for violating what was called “Rob’s Rules.”

Some said he believed that the videotapes he shot that they were having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.

According to testimony, Kelly gave herpes to several accusers without revealing that she had a sexually transmitted disease, and was a teenager for sex with a naked girl who emerged from under a boxing ring in the garage. Forced the boy and shot a shameful video showing that one victim had painted a sexually transmitted disease on her face as a punishment for breaking his rules.

Kelly denied cheating. He did not testify in his trial, but his then-lawyer was not forced to do anything against his will because he enjoyed the benefits of his lifestyle. Described as a groupie with the girlfriend who was with him.

Evidence was also presented about a fraudulent marriage plan that hatched to protect Kelly after fearing that she might have conceived Aaliyah, a phenomenon of R & B, just at the age of 15 in 1994. He was 27 at the time.

Aaliyah collaborated with Kelly, who wrote and produced her debut album in 1994. Age is just a number.. She died in 2001 at the age of 22 in her plane crash.

Earlier defense memos suggested prosecutors’ allegations that the higher sentence was overkill by falsely claiming that Kelly participated in bribe payments to government officials to promote illegal marriages.

The Associated Press does not appoint people who claim to have been sexually assaulted or abused unless they appear publicly. The woman spoken in Kelly’s decision was identified only by first name or pseudonym.

Kelly has been imprisoned without bail since 2019. He faces child pornography and obstruction of justice in Chicago, where the trial is scheduled to begin on August 15.

___

Associated Press journalists Jennifer Peltz and Ted Shafrey contributed to this report.