Federal prosecutors are recommending R. Kelly be sentenced to more than 25 years behind bars to protect the public from the “calculated, methodical” way he used his fame to prey on young girls.
R. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty on all counts of sex trafficking and racketeering on Monday (September 27).
The 55-year-old disgraced R&B superstar faced a total of nine counts including one count of racketeering, with 14 underlying acts that included sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, and sex trafficking charges, and also eight additional counts of violations of the Mann Act, a sex trafficking law.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly, filed in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday night, prosecutors argued Kelly should remain behind bars “until he reaches his 70s.”
Given the breadth of the defendant’s conduct and its continuity over a period of decades, the government has little doubt that if afforded an opportunity to offend again, the defendant would do so.
He committed these crimes using his fame and stardom as both a shield, which prevented close scrutiny or condemnation of his actions, and a sword, which gave him access to wealth and a network of enablers to facilitate his crimes, and an adoring fan-base from which to cull his victims.
Put simply, the defendant’s crimes were calculated, methodical, and part a long- standing pattern of using his platform as a larger-than-life musical persona and his deep network to gain access to teenagers, many of whom were particularly vulnerable, and then to exploit them for his personal gain and sexual gratification.
R. Kelly is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.
He still faces trial in U.S. District Court in Illinois, which is slated to begin on August 1.
Source: NY Daily News
