R. Kelly convicted on multiple sexual abuse charges against women, begins 30-year sentence

R. Kelly convicted on multiple sexual abuse charges against women, begins 30-year sentence

Story from Vivian DANIEL, Abuja

R&B singer Robert Sylvester Kelly, better known as R. Kelly, has been transferred to a correctional facility in North Carolina to serve his 30-year prison sentence for multiple sexual offenses.

The US Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that he was moved from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago to the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina last Wednesday.

In February 2023, R. Kelly was sentenced to an additional year in prison for his conviction on federal child pornography and child enticement charges in Chicago. This is in addition to the 30-year sentence he is already serving for a separate conviction in New York.

A federal jury in Chicago found the singer guilty on six counts of sexual abuse against three women, who testified under the pseudonyms Jane, Pauline, and Nia on video.

READ ALSO: R. Kelly bags additional 20-year jail term for child porn crimes

However, the jury acquitted him of enticement charges involving two other accusers named Tracy and Brittany.

The singer was also acquitted of seven other charges, including obstruction of justice, which accused him and two associates of rigging his 2008 child pornography trial in Cook County, where a jury delivered a verdict of not guilty.

Kelly’s federal conviction in Chicago came one year after he was convicted in New York of systematically recruiting teenagers and women for sex.

The New York verdict was a significant moment for the #MeToo movement, as it was the first major sex abuse trial where the majority of the accusers were Black women.

It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal consequences for the abuse he had allegedly inflicted on women and children over decades.