Musician Robert Kelly, known in artistic circles as R. Kelly, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in prison for taking advantage of his fame to subject young admirers to systematic sexual abuse.
The singer, author and songwriter was convicted last year of extortion and sex trafficking in a trial that gave voice to victims who previously thought their stories were ignored because they were black women.
The sentence caps a slow fall for the author of the worldwide hit “I Believe I Can Fly,” now 55, who continued to be idolized by legions of fans even after rumors of his abuse of underage girls began circulating during the 1990s.
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A jury in Brooklyn federal court in New York convicted Kelly after hearing accusations that he used his team of advisors and agents to meet young girls and keep them silent. He allegedly used his “fame, money and popularity” to systematically “prey on children and young women for his own sexual satisfaction,” prosecutors charged in a written indictment earlier this month. Several accusers testified that R. Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were minors.
