Kelly hit with new sexual abuse allegations
NEW YORK: Two more women on Thursday accused R. Kelly of sexually assaulting them as teens, the latest in a slew of lurid allegations against the R&B superstar.
Latresa Scaff, 40, and Rochelle Washington, 39, told journalists in New York they met Kelly at a show’s after-party in Baltimore in the 1990s, giving them alcohol and drugs before cornering them in his hotel room and demanding sex.
They were unable to pinpoint the year of the concert but said it was either 1995 or 1996, adding Kelly’s security picked them out of the arena’s crowd.
At the after-party they were given cocaine, marijuana and alcohol and invited to Kelly’s hotel room, according to Scaff, who said a man with a walkietalkie told them: “R. Kelly is getting ready to enter the room. Pull up your dresses.”
The artiste, now 52, then came in wearing a shirt and jeans but with his genitals exposed.
Washington refused his advances and hid in the bathroom, but Scaff gave him oral sex and then had intercourse with him, “even though I did not have the capacity to consent,” she said.
The pair, represented by highpowered feminist lawyer Gloria Allred, were scheduled to speak with the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York later on Thursday.
Scaff said she decided to speak out “because of all of the other victims,” and encouraged others to come forward.
Allred is representing a number of women who have made allegations against Kelly.
Michael Avenatti — the lawyer representing porn star Stormy Daniels in her legal battle with US President Donald Trump — is also defending multiple clients with ties to the artiste.
Without providing further detail, Allred said some women she is representing fear video or audio recordings of their relations with Kelly may be circulating.
For decades the artiste — real name Robert Sylvester Kelly — has faced lawsuits and accusations over child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual battery.
“You have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide,” Allred said, referring to Kelly. “You have been able to get away with your predatory misconduct for far too long.” — AFP