This archive report was first published on 6 August 2019.
On August 5, 2019, Hennepin County District Attorney Mike Freeman announced that R Kelly was being charged with two counts of sexual misconduct involving a minor under the age of 18 for a 2001 incident in Minnesota.
The alleged incident occurred when a teenager asked Kelly for an autograph, which he provided along with a phone number. The teenager then called the number and was directed to a downtown Minneapolis hotel where she met Kelly.
According to the complaint, Kelly allegedly paid the teenager $200 to get naked and then asked her to perform acts of rape on him in his hotel room. The complaint states that Kelly and the teenager engaged in small talk before he gave her $200 to dance, and that she was positioned looking down towards his feet as she danced.
The complaint also alleges that Kelly touched the teenager's body, including her vagina and breasts, while she was dancing. Kelly's lawyer responded to the charge by stating, 'Give me a break. This is absurd.'
Freeman admitted that the case would be a difficult one to prosecute since the evidence was 20 years old. Statutory rape laws in Minnesota clearly state that no authority figure may engage in sexual activity with anyone under the age of 18, a description that would apply to Kelly.
He was more than four years older than the victim, and based on her claim that she asked the singer for an autograph, he was clearly in a position of authority.
