R. Kelly charged with child prostitution in Minnesota

R. Kelly has been charged with two counts of underage prostitution in Minnesota, officials in the Hennepin County attorney’s office announced Monday.

The new charges against Kelly, 52, come as the embattled R&B singer already faces state and federal charges in Chicago and additional federal charges in Brooklyn.

At a press conference Monday in Minnesota, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Kelly was charged with one count of prostitution with a person under 18 and one count of soliciting sex with a person under 18.

“Some might say, ‘Aren’t you piling on?’” Freeman said. “Well, frankly, Minnesota victims deserve their day in court.”

The alleged victim met Kelly in July 2001 when the singer was signing autographs in Minneapolis, he added.

Kelly then gave the girl a phone number to call, Freeman said. Once she did, she was told to go to Kelly’s hotel room. While inside, Kelly offered her $200 to take her clothes off and dance for him, which she accepted.

Freeman said there was “sexual contact” between Kelly and the girl, but “no intercourse.”

Police in Minneapolis were made aware of the alleged incident after the victim called into a tip line set up by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office in January.

It was not immediately clear when Kelly would appear in court in Minnesota. In response to the new charges, Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, tweeted: “Re: New charges @rkelly. Give me a break. This is beyond absurd.”

It was unclear when Kelly would appear in court in Minnesota.

In February, prosecutors in Cook County charged Kelly with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Three of the four alleged victims in that case were under 18 at the time.

Last month, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago charged him with nine counts of enticing a minor, three counts of child pornography and one count of obstruction of justice. The obstruction charge stemmed from alleged efforts to illegally secure his acquittal in his 2008 child pornography case.

In Brooklyn, prosecutors charged Kelly and two associates with acting as a criminal enterprise to “promote R. Kelly’s music and the R. Kelly brand and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly.”

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges.