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Witnesses say R. Kelly married Aaliyah to avoid prosecution

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Scott Olson/Getty ImagesAs R. Kelly faces numerous charges, including bribery to obtain a false ID to marry the Aaliyah, witnesses say he married the late singer and actress her to avoid prosecution.

Kelly is accused to paying off a public employee on August 30, 1994 in order to  obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah. He married her in a secret ceremony at a Chicago hotel that day. Their marriage was annulled shortly after because Aaliyah was underage: while their marriage license stated she was 18, Aaliyah was only 15, a fact of which Kelly claimed he was unaware.

However, federal prosecutors claim to have evidence that the purpose of Kelly’s marriage to Aaliyah, referred to in court documents as “Jane Doe #1,” was to keep her from testifying against Kelly, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Witnesses have advised the government that the defendant engaged in this bribery scheme to obtain a marriage license so he could quickly and secretly marry Jane Doe #1 to avoid criminal charges for engaging in a sexual relationship with Jane Doe #1, who was a minor at the time,” prosecutors wrote.  “Specifically, the defendant believed that his marriage to Jane Doe #1 would prevent her from being able to testify against him in the event he were prosecuted for his criminal sexual relationship with her.”

In the new court filing, the feds also say that Kelly has a “consistent pattern” of obstructing law enforcement and should not be allowed to learn the identities of two of the alleged victims in the racketeering case he faces in New York City.

“Simply put, the defendant’s past behavior reveals that if given the opportunity to influence a potential witness, the defendant will take it, and his incarceration may not be enough to prevent such conduct,” prosecutors wrote.

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