Note: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault and sexual abuse involving minors that some readers may find disturbing.
R. Kelly was granted $1 million bond today, as CBS Chicago reports. After turning himself in to authorities last night, the singer was ordered to surrender his passport and told to have no contact with anyone 18 years old or younger. The arrest followed 10 charges of criminal sexual abuse stemming from cases involving four different women.
Now, more details involving each of the cases have been made public, as Chicago Tribune writer Jason Meisner reports. Three of the four women—J.P., R.L., and H.W.—were underage when Kelly abused them, according to records. The other, L.C., was 24 years old.
According to prosecutors, L.C. was a hairdresser working for R. Kelly when he exposed himself to her and attempted to force her into oral sex. “Robert Kelly then masturbated and ejaculated onto the victim and spit in her face several times,” the bond proffer reads. “The shirt the victim was wearing was submitted to [Illinois State Police] for DNA testing and semen was identified on the shirt. The male DNA identified in the semen sample is a match to Robert Kelly’s DNA profile.”
One of the women, R.L. is identified in the bond proffer as “the niece of S.E.,” Stephanie Edwards. Edwards (better known as R&B singer and former Kelly protege Sparkle) testified against Kelly during the singer’s 2008 child pornography trial, identifying both Kelly and her niece in a sex tape that was presented as evidence.
The bond proffer also details that the woman identified as J.P. first met the singer during his 2008 child pornography trial, outside the court house. (In 2017, Jim DeRogatis published a report in Buzzfeed News about Jerhonda Pace, a woman who stated that she met Kelly during his 2008 trial and claimed he sexually abused her from May 2009 to January 2010.)
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx detailed the counts against Kelly in a press conference held shortly after the charges were first announced. Court documents revealed that four women had given testimony about abuse perpetuated by Kelly from 1998 to 2010. Each charge carries a possible prison sentence of 3-7 years; Kelly faces a possible sentence of 70 years if he is found guilty on all counts. According to the Chicago Tribune’s Megan Crepeau, Kelly is due back in court on Monday, February 25.
