R. Kelly faces new sex-related charges in Minnesota

Credit: AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File

Credit: AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File

Prosecutors in Minnesota on Monday charged singer R. Kelly with sex-related charges in connection to allegations involving an underage fan in 2001, according to authorities.

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At a news conference Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Kelly, 52, was facing new charges of prostitution with an individual under 18 years of age and hiring or offering to hire a person under 18 for sexual purposes. He said the allegations involve a girl who asked for Kelly's autograph in July 2001.

"He gave it to her," Freeman said. "He also gave her a phone number and told her to call him."

He said that when she called the number, she was directed to go to Kelly's hotel. There she was met by a member of his staff, who took her to his hotel suite, Freeman said.

"After some discussion, she was offered $200 to take her clothes off and to dance before him," Freeman said.

Freeman said Monday that no "sexual intercourse" occurred, KMSP-TV reported.

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is facing several state and federal sex-related charges. Last week, he pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering charges in New York, where he's accused of preying on his fans to recruit women and girls to have sex with him, isolating them from their loved ones and controlling when they ate and used the bathroom.

Kelly previously pleaded not guilty to 13 federal charges out of Illinois, including child exploitation and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors in the state said Kelly for years sexually abused at least five girls as young as 13 years old and that he threatened, intimidated and abused the victims and witnesses to keep them from revealing his crimes.

A judge last month ordered him held in custody until his trial.

In addition to the federal charges, Kelly also faces a slew of sexual assault and abuse charges in Cook County, Illinois, where he's been accused of abusing several women, some of whom authorities said were girls at the time the abuse began.

Kelly, one of the top-selling recording artists of all time, has been accused of sexual misconduct several times over the years, allegations he’s consistently denied.

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