July 16 (UPI) — A federal judge Tuesday ordered R. Kelly held in custody without bond while facing child pornography charges in Illinois.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinweber ruled that attorneys for the 52-year-old Kelly did not successfully overcome a presumption that defendants facing child pornography charges be detained ahead of a pending trial.
Kelly’s attorney, Steven Greenberg, countered federal prosecutors’ assertions that Kelly is an “extreme danger,” citing that most of the charges were more than a decade old and that he was not a flight risk because he has regularly attended past court dates.
Kelly is being held in the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and has pleaded not guilty to a 13-count indictment accusing him of child pornography and obstructing justice.
His attorneys said he has been held in solitary confinement with no access to television or contact with other people.
The singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was arrested last week on two federal indictments in Illinois and New York.
The New York indictment alleges Kelly recruited women and girls to “engage in illegal sexual activity,” as well as having sex with women younger than 18, producing child pornography by asking minors to send him photos and not disclosing a sexually transmitted disease.
The Illinois indictment alleges Kelly paid his former manager and another former employee to cover up the alleged sexual acts.
