R. Kelly charged with criminal sexual abuse in Illinois

Kelly is accused of abusing four victims, at least three of whom were allegedly underage, in incidents that date back to 1998, according the indictment. The most recent alleged abuse was in 2010.

Foxx did not detail the alleged abuse at a brief Friday press conference.

Judge Dennis Porter signed a no-bail warrant for Kelly’s arrest at 9:30 a.m. Friday, CBS Chicago reported. According to court records, his first court date has been scheduled for March 8. If he is convicted on all 10 counts, a judge could decide that the sentences run one after the other, making it possible that he receives a sentence of up to 70 years behind bars, the Associated Press reported. Probation is another option under the statute, Foxx said.

Kelly is expected to appear in bond court Saturday.

Defense attorney Steve Greenberg told the station he’s not aware of the charges. Kelly has for decades faced allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls, but had denied them. Greenberg has maintained the singer’s innocence and said that he never knowingly had sex with underage girls.

“I have a client who hasn’t committed any crime, so I don’t have a lot of work to do as a criminal defense lawyer,” Greenberg told CBS News last week.

Last month, Foxx asked for possible alleged victims of sexual assault or domestic violence by Kelly to come forward after the “deeply, deeply disturbing” allegations outlined in the Lifetime docu-series “Surviving R. Kelly.”

“In order to have an investigation … we have to have victims and witnesses who are willing to come forth with whatever information that they have,” Foxx said.

The docu-series, which aired on Lifetime, features 50 interviews, including accuser Jerhonda Pace; the parents of one of Kelly’s alleged victims; Kelly’s ex-wife, Andrea Kelly; ex-girlfriend Kitti Jones and brothers Carey and Bruce Kelly.

Foxx said she saw some of the docu-series.

“I was sickened,” she said. “I was sickened by the allegations. I was sickened as a survivor. I was sickened as a mother. I’m sickened as a prosecutor.”

The state’s attorney’s office identified the victims only by initials. The first, H.W., was involved in incidents between May 26, 1998 and May 25, 1999, according to the state’s attorney’s office. The grand jury returned an indictment of four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse related to H.W., who was under 17.

The second, R.L., was involved in an incident between Sept. 26, 1998 and Sept. 25, 2001. The grand jury returned an indictment of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse related to R.L., who was also under 17, according to the state’s attorney’s office. The indictment does not list an age for the third victim, L.C., who was involved in an incident on Feb. 18, 2003.

The grand jury returned an indictment of one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse related to that incident, which the indictment said happened during the course of an attempted criminal sexual assault. The fourth victim, J.P., was involved in incidents between May 1, 2009 and Jan. 31, 2010. The grand jury returned an indictment of three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse related to J.P., who was under 17, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

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

Avenatti, who was approached by an individual seeking representation in April, said he received the tape earlier this month. The tape is believed to be from the late 1990s. He claims R. Kelly’s voice can be heard on the recording and that a telltale mole on his back is clearly visible.

“This is deviant conduct … R. Kelly deserves to spend the rest of his life in a penitentiary,” Avenatti said. “There’s 2 different scenes shot on two separate days on this tape … I was disgusted by what I viewed …This is a disgusting video.”

CBS News has confirmed the video was recently turned over to the Cook County state’s attorney in Chicago, where Kelly lives.

Kelly was acquitted on child pornography charges in 2008 after disputing he was the man seen in a grainy video having sex with an underage girl.  Avenatti said the tape in that case is different from the one he provided. He did not say whether the new tape showed a different alleged victim.

On Thursday, two new Kelly accusers spoke out publicly with their lawyer, Gloria Allred. The women, Latresa Scaff and Rochelle Washington, said Kelly picked them out of a crowd at a Baltimore party in the 1990s when both were underage, asked them back to his hotel and exposed himself. Scaff said she engaged in sexual activity with Kelly, but said she was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol and didn’t have the capacity to consent.

Jericka Duncan contributed to this report.