R. Kelly's Kindergarten Concert
by Marcus Errico
Jun 10, 2002, 4:00 PM PT
R. Kelly's first post-arrest concert might get him in a heap of trouble.
Just hours after the singer was arrested by Chicago police, rung up on child-pornography charges and released on bail, he reportedly performed with a group of kindergarten students--seemingly a violation of a judge's order barring Kelly from coming into contact with any unrelated minor.
Kelly, 35, was booked Friday in his hometown on 21 counts of child pornography stemming from a much-bootlegged underground videotape purportedly showing him having sex with a 14-year-old. The Grammy winner faces up to 15 years in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted. Kelly has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.
Following his processing at a police station, according to the Chicago Tribune, Kelly was accompanied by his lawyer, Ed Genson, and spiritual adviser, the Reverend James Meeks, to Meeks' parish, the Salem Baptist Church, where a group had gathered to sing a Kelly composition with the beleagured songsmith.
Included in the group of about 1,000 people were two dozen kindergarteners. Kelly led the group in the performance.
Apparently, the mini-concert isn't sitting too well with Chicago prosecutors. After Kelly was arrested at his home in Florida last week, he appeared before a local judge to post bond so he could return to Chicago to face the charges. At that hearing, Polk County Judge Karla Wright set the terms of the bond, one of which called for Kelly to stay away from underage children not related by blood or marriage.
The Chicago-based prosecutors in the Cook County State's Attorney's Office tells the Tribune they had been notified of Kelly's appearance with the children and that prosecutors will in turn bring it up before a judge to determine whether Kelly has violated the order.
But Kelly's lawyer Genson says his client did nothing wrong. Genson tells the paper that the order only applied to the Florida bond. "When he surrendered in Chicago, the Florida bond was no longer valid," he tells the Tribune. "There were no conditions on the Illinois bond."
Kelly, who paid $75,000 in cash to make his $750,000 bond, is scheduled to be back in court on June 26.
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