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R&B singer R. Kelly to surrender to Chicago police Friday

Kelly
Kelly looks at Polk County Judge Karla Wright during his court appearance in Bartow, Florida, on Thursday.  


LAKELAND, Florida (CNN) -- Arrangements are being made for R&B singer R. Kelly to surrender to Chicago police Friday on charges of child pornography, according to a spokesman.

Kelly posted bond and was released from jail in Florida, the Polk County Sheriff's Department said Thursday.

He was arrested in Florida Wednesday hours after he was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 21 counts of child pornography, stemming from a videotape that allegedly shows the star performing sexual acts with a 14-year-old girl.

The 35-year-old singer, whose full name is Robert Kelly, denies the allegations.

Kelly spokesman Allan Mayer said the time of the Grammy-winning singer's arrival in Chicago was not yet definite, but he would turn himself over to police sometime Friday.

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CNN's Jeff Flock reports on the indictment and arrest of R. Kelly (June 5)

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If convicted, Kelly could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison and fined a maximum of $100,000.

Authorities said an investigation was launched February 1 after the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper received an anonymous videotape along with a claim that the man in the video was Kelly. The paper turned the tape over to police, which then had its sex crimes unit investigate further.

Investigators interviewed more than 50 witnesses who went before the grand jury and identified the singer as the person in the video, authorities said. The FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, authenticated the tape, they said.

Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine said the grand jury indicted Kelly -- who is best known for his smash hit "I Believe I Can Fly" -- on seven counts of videotaping the sex acts, seven counts of producing the video and seven counts of soliciting or enticing the girl into having the acts.

Authorities would not comment on the identity of the girl in the videotape. The Chicago Sun-Times said she was the then-14-year-old daughter of an associate of R. Kelly's, but added that the girl and her parents have denied the allegations.



 
 
 
 



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