R Kelly arrested on child porn charges
By Jim Loney
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MIAMI (Reuters) - Grammy-winning rhythm and blues singer R Kelly has been arrested in Miami on new child pornography charges resulting from the discovery of sex pictures at his Florida home last year, police say.
Kelly, 36, who is free on bond awaiting trial on similar charges in Chicago, was charged with 12 counts of possession of child pornography. Police said some of the pictures showed him engaged in sex acts with a girl.
The arrest was made on a warrant from Polk County, Florida, where police said they found 12 digital images depicting "sexual activity by a female who was under 18 years of age" during a search of Kelly's rented home in Davenport, a central Florida town southwest of Orlando, in June during his arrest there on the Chicago charges.
Police said on Wednesday that the charges took this long to file because they were being meticulous in their investigation.
Several of the images showed Kelly involved in "sexual conduct" with the girl, police said. The age of sexual consent in Florida is 18.
"There is no question as far as we're concerned that it's his digital image, with a child under the age of 18, engaged in lewd conduct," Polk County Sheriff's Col. Grady Judd said, adding the investigation was continuing.
Kelly's Chicago attorney, Edward Genson, was not immediately available for comment.
Kelly was picked up without incident in the parking lot of Miami's luxury Grand Bay Hotel and released from the local jail on $12,000 (7,400 pounds) bail shortly after being booked.
Possession of child pornography in Florida is a third-degree felony. Each count carries a possible five-year prison term, meaning Kelly could face 60 years if convicted.
In Chicago, Kelly faces 21 counts of videotaping, producing or soliciting for child pornography stemming from a 26-minute videotape that allegedly depicted the singer in sex acts with a girl who police say was 14 at the time.
Kelly, whose given name is Robert, pleaded not guilty and said the man on the tape was not him. Bootleg copies of the tape became hot sellers on street corners.
After his arrest in Florida on the Chicago charges last year, a judge agreed to free him on bail but barred him from having contact with unrelated minors.
Kelly, who previously settled at least two lawsuits alleging sex with underage girls, won multiple Grammy Awards in 1997 for the gospel-like hit song "I Believe I Can Fly", from the movie "Space Jam".
He is known for the explicit carnality of some of his music, with song titles such as "Sex Me", "Your Body's Callin'" and "Bump n' Grind".
He married his 15-year-old protege, Aaliyah Haughton, in 1994, but the marriage to the future star was annulled. She died in a plane crash in the Bahamas in August 2001.