A judge on Saturday set bond at $1 million for R. Kelly in connection with a 10-count indictment charging the singer with aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
The decision was made during a hearing in Chicago where the R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, made his first court appearance since surrendering to police Friday evening.
Mr. Kelly, 52, was charged earlier Friday with sex crimes dating back to 1998, including acts involving four alleged victims, three of whom were under the age of 17 at the time.
A judge set bond for Mr. Kelly at $250,000 for each of the four cases and ordered him to pay 10 percent of the total – $100,000 – to be released from custody.
He faces decades in prison if convicted. Prosecutors had recommended he be held pending trial.
“He’s an innocent man,” a lawyer for Mr. Kelly, Steve Greenberg, told reporters Friday. “I think all the women are lying.”
Mr. Kelly first found fame in the 1990s for R&B songs including “Bump N’ Grind” and “I Believe I Can Fly,” winning three Grammy Awards for the latter in 1998. Other notable releases included “Trapped in the Closet,” a 33-part opera, and “Ignition (Remix),” a single that spent several weeks near the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2002.
Criminal allegations have dogged Mr. Kelly throughout most of career, and he was previously indicted on 13 counts of child pornography prior to ultimately being acquitted more than a decade ago.
“Surviving R. Kelly,” a televised docuseries that aired on the Lifetime network earlier this year, recently rekindled interest in allegations against the singer amid prosecutors and the public alike.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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