Scott Olson/Getty Images(CHICAGO) — Musician R. Kelly has been arrested on federal child pornography and obstruction of justice charges.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago said the pop star was arrested Thursday on a 13-count indictment.
“R Kelly was arrested in Chicago tonight on charges contained in a 13-count indictment returned today in the Northern District of Illinois,” the attorney’s office said in a statement late Thursday. “The indictment includes charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice.”
It is not clear as of yet what other charges are included in the indictment.
Kelly was arrested by the New York Police Department, which will eventually bring him to New York City, a police source told ABC News.
Darrell Johnson, Kelly’s representative, said he will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
The charges are the latest in a number of legal issues for Kelly this year. The singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, is also facing 10 counts of felony criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, after being arrested by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department in March. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, some of which date back to 1998.
Kelly last appeared in court in Chicago on June 26, when prosecutors handed over a DVD allegedly containing pornographic images of the singer with a minor.
“We’ll see what it shows,” Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said outside the courthouse last month.
A trial has not been set, but the judge said an early 2020 date is likely. Kelly’s next court hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 15.
The 52-year-old has always denied allegations of sexual misconduct.
He has also dealt with a number of child support issues. He was jailed for almost a week in March for failure to pay support dating back eight months for his three children with his ex-wife, Andrea “Drea” Kelly.
The singer was acquitted of prior child pornography charges in 2008, five years after initially being arrested over a video that purported to show the singer with an underage girl.
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