More disturbing news surfaced today in the legal proceedings surrounding R. Kelly. According to The New York Times, the accused pedophile has been charged with bribing a government worker to get a fake ID for the singer Aaliyah when she was just 15-years-old so that she would appear to be 18 and the two could get married, which they did. “Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Mr. Kelly of bribing an Illinois government employee in 1994 in order to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah, according to the indictment and a person familiar with the matter,†reports the Times. With the ID in hand they were able to obtain a marriage license.
The new charge stems from an existing racketeering indictment Kelly was already facing in New York, where he stands accused of sexually exploiting underage girls and coercing them into illegal sexual activity. There is currently legal action being pursued against Kelly in multiple cities for more crimes involving sexual abuse of minors. The the lawyer for the disgraced R&B star, Steven Greenberg, previously said Kelly had “no idea†Aaliyah was 15 at the time of their marriage.