R. Kelly again charged with child pornography

MIAMI - R&B singer R. Kelly, who was already facing child pornography charges in Illinois, was arrested Wednesday after investigators said they found 12 photographs of a nude girl at his central Florida home.

Kelly, whose first name is Robert, was arrested without incident at a Miami-Dade County hotel at 10:30 a.m. on a Polk County warrant. He was released about three hours later on $12,000 bond and hustled into an awaiting car to avoid reporters.

The Grammy-winning artist has been out on bond and awaiting trial on 21 counts of child pornography in Chicago. Those charges stem from a videotape authorities say shows him having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Kelly, 36, has denied that charge. His attorney called the latest charges "piling on" by Polk County authorities.

Col. Grady Judd of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said the new charges were filed after pornographic digital images were found stored in Kelly's camera equipment. It had been seized during a search last June 6 in his rented Davenport home after the singer was arrested there on the Illinois warrant. Davenport is about 35 miles southwest of Orlando.

"In three of the photos he is engaged in sexual conduct with a minor," Judd said.

He said the other nine pictures show other adults and a nude underage female. Authorities are still investigating those adults, Judd said.

Judd would not say whether the unidentified minor in the photos was the same girl in the Chicago video. Police were still trying to determine what state the pictures were taken in before considering any additional charges, Judd said.

He said it took seven months to issue the Polk County warrant because the State Attorney's Office needed time to investigate.

Kelly was released from jail about three hours after his arrest and was hustled into a waiting car to avoid reporters.

Marc W. Martin, one of Kelly's attorneys in Chicago, said the evidence in Polk County is tied to the Illinois case.

"It looks to us like a classic case of piling on in which a local jurisdiction tries to make headlines by attaching itself to a celebrity case," Martin said. "As far as we can tell, the charges all relate to R. Kelly's arrest last summer. In other words, there is nothing new here."

Judd said Kelly lived part of the year in his Davenport home, but hadn't been there since his arrest in June. The singer lives in the Chicago suburb Olympia Fields. Judd said Kelly was in Miami on business.

The singer is known for hits ranging from the Grammy-winning, gospel-like "I Believe I Can Fly" to sexually charged material such as "Bump 'n' Grind," "Feelin' On Yo Booty" and "Your Body's Callin'."

The Illinois investigation began after the Chicago Sun-Times reported last February that it had received the tape anonymously and passed it along to Chicago police.

Kelly also is the focus of at least four lawsuits, three of which accuse him of having sex with underage girls. He has acknowledged settling two of the lawsuits regarding underage sex, but his lawyers have said they will fight the third.

Kelly's new album, "Chocolate Factory," is scheduled to be released in February. He was nominated for a Grammy earlier this month for the song "The World's Greatest," from the "Ali" soundtrack.