R Kelly: Singer faces 11 new sex abuse charges
Kelly was already facing 10 abuse charges against four women, including three who were underage at the time of the alleged abuse.
Friday 31 May 2019 00:12, UK
Prosecutors in Chicago have charged singer R Kelly with 11 new counts of sex abuse, all relating to one victim.
The Chicago Sun-Times says that prosecutors in Cook County filed the charges on Thursday.
The new charges include four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim between the ages of 13 to 16.
The charges relating to criminal aggravated sexual assault carry a maximum prison sentence of 30 years.
The filing claims eight counts were from encounters that allegedly occurred between 1 January and 31 January 2010. Three others relate to alleged encounters between 1 May 2009 and 31 January 2010.
According to the new filings, eight of the counts are from events that allegedly happened between 1 January and 31 January 2010, with three others relating to encounters between 1 May 2009 and 31 January 2010.
Prosecutors allege that Kelly used force, or threatened to, in order to pressure the accuser in to performing sex acts on him.
The accuser was underage at the time, which means the statue of limitations for bringing charges against Kelly extends to 20 years from their 18th birthday.
Kelly is already facing 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four women, including three who were underage when the alleged abuse happened.
Kelly, who was arrested in February, has always maintained his innocence.
The R&B singer's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he had heard about the fresh charges, but had yet to see the filing.
He added he understood the allegations were "from years ago".