Disgraced RnB singer, R. Kelly has been charged with up to ten counts of criminal sex abuse which involved four victims, including minors in his home town, Cook County in Chicago on Friday, according to reports.
The charges involve incidents which date back from 1998 to 2010, with at least three of the alleged victims being minors, aged between 13 and 16 years old when the crimes were allegedly committed. One of the victims is the subject of four different counts. He faces up to 70 years in jail if found guilty.
READ: Grand Jury Assembled After Alleged R. Kelly Victims Saw His New Sex Tape With 14 Year Old Girl
Meanwhile, sources around the embattled singer say he plans to voluntarily turn himself to authorities late on Friday night.
Earlier this week a grand jury convened in Cook County days after a sex tape that allegedly showed Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl surfaced and reached the authorities.
Attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing the alleged victims said last week that he handed over the videotape to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office.
“Including in the evidence we recently uncovered and recovered is a VHS videotape of Mr. Kelly engaging in multiple sexual assaults of a girl underage,” Avenatti said in a statement shared on Twitter. “This tape, which is clear, is approximately 45 minutes in length and has never previously been publicly disclosed or, until recently, provided to law enforcement.
“As part of our effort to ensure Mr. Kelly is finally held accountable for his repeated sexual assaults of minors spanning over two decades, we have provided extensive information, including the videotape described above and witnesses, to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in Chicago,” the statement read.”
Avenatti, who is best known as the lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, applauded the charges Friday in a tweet, saying, “After 25 years of serial sex abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived.”
Minutes before that, Avenatti has tweeted: “It’s over.”
TMZ reports that of the two women from many as a dozen accusers who testified before the grand jury over the past week, provided physical evidence against Kelly
Kelly has maintained that he is innocent of all the allegations of his sexual misconduct where he targetted women and underage girls for years.