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R. Kelly, facing 10 charges of felony criminal sexual abuse, appeared at a bond hearing Sturday in Chicago. Bond was set at $1 million: $250,000 for each of the four cases pending against him.
R. Kelly wore a black hooded sweatshirt and stood with his hands crossed behind his back throughout the hearing. The only time he spoke was a back-and-forth with his attorney Steve Greenberg when the judge reviewed the charges, calling the state’s bond proffer — which graphically detailed the encounters between Kelly and four minor females — “disturbing.”
Kelly must come up with $100,000, 10% of the face value of the bond, to be released. Once he does, he must surrender his passport, and he is not allowed to have contact with people age 18 or younger. His next court date is February 25, Monday, at 9 a.m.
Greenberg told ABC News that he believes his client will be able to come up with the money for the bond later today or this weekend; until he does, Kelly will remains in sheriff’s custody.
In the courtroom, Greenberg told the judge that Kelly wasn’t a flight risk because “contrary to the song, he doesn’t like to fly.” Greenberg added, “He can’t go anywhere, anyways. He’s a recognizable person.”
Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, two of Kelly’s alleged “sex slaves,” were in the courtroom during the hearing, and snubbed Clary’s father, who’d flown in to Chicago Friday night to attempt to bring her home.
Savage’s parents have long contended that she is being held against her will by Kelly, but Joycelyn maintains otherwise; Kelly has denied those claims, and has denied all wrongdoing of any kind in the past.
Also in the courtroom was Jerhonda Pace, one of Kelly’s accusers, who appeared in the Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.
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