The Latest: R. Kelly still jailed pending payment of $100K
R. Kelly remains jailed a day after a bond court judge ruled the R&B star could go free pending a sex abuse trial if he pays 10 percent of a $1 million bail.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office website Sunday says Kelly — one of the best-selling music artists of all time — is still in its 7,000-inmate complex in Chicago.
The judge Saturday described the allegations against Kelly as “disturbing” but offered him freedom for $100,000. It can be paid by credit card, cash or check.
Defense lawyer Steve Greenberg told the judge that Kelly’s finances are “a mess.” Greenberg later said he hoped Kelly would be released Saturday.
It’s unclear if Kelly can’t raise the $100,000 or there’s a technical problem with transferring money over the weekend.
While on trial for child pornography in 2008, R. Kelly still found time to talk to fans, give autographs and to meet an underage girl he later invited to his home.
That’s according to prosecutors who at a court hearing Saturday depicted the R&B star as manipulative and sometimes violent.
Other accusers included a girl who met Kelly at her 16th birthday party and a hairdresser who expected to braid the singer’s hair only to find that he wanted oral sex instead.
The accounts emerged as Kelly made his first court appearance since being accused of sexually abusing four people. The case could produce another #MeToo reckoning for a celebrity.
A judge set bond at $1 million, meaning the Grammy winner must post $100,000 to be released.