R. Kelly faces additional charge.
R. Kelly offered an underage autograph seeker $200 to take off her clothes and dance with him in his hotel room, then touched her sexually, according to officials in Minneapolis who announced new sexual misconduct charges against the singer Monday.
Kelly, 52, who already faces federal and local charges of sexual assault, child pornography and obstruction of justice in Illinois and New York, was charged in Minneapolis with two counts of engaging in prostitution with a minor, said Mike Freeman, the Hennepin County attorney, at a news conference Monday.
At a promotional event at the Minneapolis City Center in 2001, the girl, who was 17, approached Kelly for his autograph, Freeman said. When he handed it back to her, she saw that next to his name was a phone number. She called, and was invited to his hotel, where a member of his staff escorted her to Kelly’s suite.
There, he offered her $200 to dance for him, Freeman said. She accepted.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl, now a woman in her mid-30s, told investigators this year that Kelly helped remove her clothing, then took off his own clothes, and they danced.
She said Kelly laid on the bed and that she climbed on top of him. Kelly then touched her all over her body, including her vagina and breasts, she told investigators. Kelly also offered the girl free VIP seating at his concert, which was restricted to adults.
The three-year statute of limitations does not hinder prosecution in this case, Freeman said, because the clock stopped when Kelly, who has lived in the Chicago and Atlanta areas, left Minnesota, and there was no indication that he had spent three years in the state since then.