R. Kelly hit with more serious sex crime charges in new court case

Cook County prosecutors on Thursday filed a new series of sex assault charges against R. Kelly, adding 11 felony counts against the singer, including charges that carry a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

The alleged offense happened in January 2010, according to the court records. The charging document does not contain many details and it was unclear whether the charges are tied to new allegations, but Kelly’s lawyer said the new charges are related to an alleged victim and acts that were the basis of one of the four sex abuse cases filed against Kelly earlier this year.

The new case charges Kelly with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual 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.

Kelly, who is free on $1 million bond following his indictment in February in the sex abuse cases involving four alleged victims— including three underage girls— is due to appear in court on the new charges June 6.

The state’s attorney’s office did not respond to requests for comment. Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said Thursday he had received word of new charges from prosecutors but had not seen any filings in the case.

“We’ll see what the charges are, and we’ll proceed accordingly,” Greenberg said. “I know this much: it’s old. They’re allegations from years ago.”

In a Twitter post, Greenberg said the new case represented new charges related to one of the existing victims.

“[Kelly] was NOT charged with a new case. He was recharged in an existing case, same alleged victim and time (a decade ago) It changes nothing,” Greenberg wrote.

“These are the same conduct, just charged differently, same alleged victim, same time frame, same facts. We expect the same results.”

The four aggravated criminal sexual assault counts are all designated as Class X felonies that carry a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison for Kelly if he is convicted. The four cases filed in February were charged as lower-level felonies that had maximum sentences of up to seven years.

The latest charges refer to the victim by the initials “J.P.” — the same initials used to identify one of the victims in one of the four cases filed in February. In that case, Kelly was charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felonies with max sentences of seven years.

At Kelly’s bond hearing, prosecutors said Kelly met J.P., then 16, when she got his autograph after a hearing during his 2008 trial on child pornography charges. Between May 2009 and January 2010, prosecutors said he had sex with the teen “multiple” times at his home in south suburban Olympia Fields.