A Chicago, Illinois judge has set R. Kelly’s bond at $1 million (£766,000) following his indictment on sex abuse charges.
Prosecutors filed 10 felony counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against the Ignition (Remix) hitmaker on Friday morning, and obtained a warrant for his arrest.
He surrendered to police hours later and was placed under arrest.
The charges involve four alleged victims, with reported incidents dating from 1998 to 2010. Three of the women are said to have been underage at the time of the encounters.
On Saturday, the 52 year old, real name Robert Kelly, appeared before a judge for a bond hearing, during which the fee was set at $250,000 (£191,500) for each case. Under the terms of the agreement, he must also hand over his passport, and avoid contact with anyone under the age of 18.
He must put up $100,000 (£76,600) to make bail.
During the hearing, prosecutors provided further details regarding the accusations filed against Kelly, and revealed that a piece of physical evidence police had obtained from one of the alleged victims was a shirt she had worn during their purported sexual encounter, which has tested positive for the R&B star’s DNA, according to CNN.
The veteran musician, whose decades of sexual misconduct accusations were examined in the recent docuseries Surviving R. Kelly, has always maintained his innocence.
After the court appearance, his attorney, Steven Greenberg, told reporters he was “very happy” with the bond result, which he deemed “fair and reasonable given the allegations”.
“Right now he’s presumed innocent,” he continued. “We haven’t seen any reason to believe that these allegations are credible.”
Late on Friday, Greenberg also issued a statement, saying: “Mr. Kelly is strong, he’s got a lot of support and he’s going to be vindicated on all these charges – one by one if it has to be.”
Kelly faces the possibility of three to seven years behind bars for each of the crimes, if convicted.
He was previously cleared of 14 counts of child pornography in 2008, following the 2002 release of a sex tape reportedly showing the singer urinating on a female who was allegedly underage.
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Gavin Ryan reports with thanks to Australian-Charts.com
