CHICAGO, IL – R. Kelly has been sentenced to two decades behind bars by a Chicago judge for his federal sexual assault case.
The disgraced R&B singer appeared in Illinois court on Thursday (February 22) where he learned of his 20-year sentence.
According to The New York Times, Kells scored a victory when the judge ruled that all but one year will be served concurrent to the 30-year sentence he’s currently serving in New York on racketeering charges.
He was acquitted on charges of enticing minors into sex and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors argued that the federal sentence should come on top of his New York prison bid as he poses a danger to society and “lacked remorse.”
While Judge Leinenweber decided against that idea, he admitted that he would’ve imposed a much heftier sentence had the federal trial come prior to his New York City conviction in September 2021.
A grand jury ultimately found the Chicago native guilty on six of the 13 federal charges which included three child pornography charges for sexually abusing four girls — three of whom were minors.
They also found Kelly guilty of making three videos of himself sexually assaulting his 14-year-old goddaughter, which resulted in another three charges for producing sex tapes with a minor.
Additionally, the Pied Piper of R&B was ordered to pay one of the victims $42,000 in restitution to take care of their therapy costs.
“I’m not a vengeful or hateful person, but I highly suggest you spend your time in prison reflecting,” one of the victims, who identified as Nia, said in court on Thursday
The ruling comes shortly after a series of pending sex abuse charges against R. Kelly in Cook County, Illinois were dropped. The singer was indicted in 2019 on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were under the age of consent.
