US media are reporting the 52-year-old singer has been arrested on sex trafficking charges as allegations continue to mount against him.
R. Kelly has been arrested in Chicago on sex trafficking charges, US media are reporting.
The 52-year-old singer, who has faced allegations of sex abuse since the 1990s, was arrested by NYPD detectives and Homeland Security Investigation agents on Thursday, NBC reports.
It’s believed Kelly will now be brought to New York, with further details expected to be released on Friday, US time.
In February, Kelly was arrested in Chicago and accused of the aggravated sexual abuse of four women, which he later plead not guilty to.
The arrest followed the release of Surviving R. Kelly, a documentary series that aired multiple sex allegations against the singer.
Several of Kelly’s accusers finally united their voices to share their horrifying stories of being trapped in a “sex cult” in the six-part series, which was watched by a record number of people in the US.
The documentary’s original release in early January forced police in the US to re-open criminal investigations, and Kelly was dropped from his label, RCA Records.
Musicians he has collaborated with in the past, including Lady Gaga and Celine Dion, removed songs they made with him from streaming platforms.
Within two weeks of the show’s premiere, Kelly also launched a Facebook page discrediting the accusers, which was removed by the social media giant for breaking its code of conduct.
He was arrested again in May and charged with 11 fresh counts of sexual assault in Illinois.
Four of the new charges, aggravated criminal sexual assault, are felony “Class X” counts, which are the most serious in Illinois outside of first-degree murder, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Kelly was acquitted in 2008 of child pornography charges over a video that was alleged to show him having sex with a 13-year-old after the girl’s identity could not be proven.
