R Kelly turns himself in to police after sexual abuse charges

UPDATE - Saturday, 07:15: Kelly was driven to a Chicago police station in a dark coloured van with heavily tinted rear windows around 20:15 on Friday. He did not respond to questions from gathered reporters as he walked inside the building.

Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi tweeted a short time later that Kelly was under arrest. He was expected to be held overnight before an appearance Saturday in bond court.

SEE THE TWEETS HERE:

Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, told reporters following the singer's arrest that one of the charges he faces appears to be tied to a decade-old child pornography case.

"Double jeopardy should bar that case," Greenberg said. "He won that case."

Chicago - R&B star R Kelly has been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse, at least some involving minors, a Cook County court official said in a press conference on Friday.

Nine of the charges of the 52-year-old embattled singer - dogged for decades by sexual abuse allegations involving underage women, concern minors ages 13 to 16, a Cook County court official told AFP.

Two women said on Thursday that he picked them out of a crowd at a Baltimore after-party in the mid-1990s when they were underage and had sex with one of the teens although she was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol and could not consent, AP reported

The women, Latresa Scaff and Rochelle Washington, joined lawyer Gloria Allred at a New York City news conference to tell their story publicly for the first time.Their accusations come six weeks after a Lifetime documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly, took another look at previous sexual misconduct allegations against the R&B star.

Kelly - known for hits like I Believe I Can Fly - over the years has faced a slew of lawsuits and accusations over child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual battery.

"After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R. Kelly has arrived," tweeted attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing several clients linked to the American singer.

Last week, Avenatti - who also represents a porn star locked in a legal battle with President Donald Trump - announced his office had uncovered previously unreleased footage of Kelly having sex with a young girl that the lawyer gave to the Cook County State's Attorney.

It is the second time Cook County prosecutors have charged Kelly with a sex crime: after a dramatic trial that also involved a sex tape, the musician was acquitted of 21 counts of c hild pornography in 2008.