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R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years

Entertainment | Celebrities

R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years

By Punch Liwanag

R. Kelly from 'Write Me Back' album image from his official Facebook.

“I Believe I Can Fly” singer's wings clipped with recent sentencing.

Robert Sylvester Kelley, a.k.a. R. Kelley, was sentenced to 30 years in prison last Wednesday after being found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering charges against him, reports said.

Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York announced the guilty verdict and the 30-year prison sentence. “These crimes were calculated and more carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years. You taught them that love is enslavement and violence,” the judge said, addressing the former R&B music star.

“With the aid of his fame, his money, and most importantly his inner circle, R. Kelley preyed upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification for decades,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said after the sentencing.

The latter also added that the 55-year-old Kelley, “continued committing his crimes for 30 years and avoided punishment until today. Today, the sentence shows that the witnesses reclaim control over their lives and over their futures. These are the voices of mostly Black and brown women and children that were heard and believed, for whom justice was finally achieved.”

R. Kelley was formerly married to the late singing sensation Aaliyah, whom he illegally married when the latter was only 15-years old and Kelley was 27. The marriage was later annulled.

R. Kelley is still facing 13 charges of child pornography and enticing a minor into illegal sexual activity in a Chicago court this coming August.

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