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May 31, 2002

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH AND JIM DEROGATIS Chicago Sun-Times STAFF
REPORTERS

Another woman has filed suit against R&B superstar R. Kelly.

Montina "Tina" Woods, 33, a Chicago dancer who tours with the Isley
brothers, said she never knew Kelly was secretly taping her sexual
encounter with him at his recording studio, Chicago Trax.

The tape has made its way into a collage of three Kelly sexual
encounters, bootleg versions of which are available on street corners across
America.

Woods "had a right to privacy to prevent her personal image from being
recorded for the purpose of his personal gratification and possible
dissemination to the public," the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court
states.

"R. Kelly should have known this was likely to cause severe emotional
harm and economic harm to [Woods]," the suit states.

This brings to four the number of women who have sued Kelly in Cook
County for inappropriate sexual behavior; two of them were under age.

Kelly settled with two of the women.

A fifth woman settled with Kelly out of court before filing suit,
attorney Susan Loggans said.

Those five do not include the then-14-year-old girl who appears on a
26-minute videotape engaging in sex acts with a man who appears to be
Kelly.

That tape was sent anonymously to the Sun-Times and turned over to
Chicago police.

Police investigated the tape and turned over evidence to the Cook
County state's attorney, which empaneled a grand jury.

Bringing the total number of women to at least seven is Aaliyah, the
young singer and actress killed in a plane crash last year.

Kelly married her when she was 15 and he was 27 in 1994. Her family
annulled the marriage when they found out. They said Kelly encouraged
Aaliyah to falsify her age.

"R. Kelly has been aware of his acts for over 10 years that constitute
violations of criminal statutes and flagrantly displays disregard of
the law by way of his negligence from causing further harm to females,"
Woods' lawsuit states.

Kelly's attorney said he had not seen the lawsuit and so could not
comment.

The suit states, "Kelly set up a hidden camera, prepared his office and
background for the exclusive purpose of secretly recording Miss Woods."

The tape includes nude dancing and sex acts.

Patrice Jones, whose lawsuit against Kelly is pending, said the singer
had sex with her, too, at his Chicago Trax recording studio.

Jones said Kelly coerced her into a sexual relationship after meeting
her at the Rock and Roll McDonald's on her senior prom night.

They had sex 20 to 30 times before her 17th birthday and she got
pregnant, she said. Kelly forced her to get an abortion, her suit states.

Copyright: The Chicago Sun-Times