R&B star R Kelly has been released from a Chicago jail after posting his $100,000 (\u00a376,000) bail, a Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Monday he pleaded not guilty to 10 charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four women, three of whom were minors at the time.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old, dressed in a blue coat, did not speak to media as he was escorted from jail by his lawyer.<\/p>\n
He had turned himself in to police on Friday and spent the weekend in jail.<\/p>\n
The singer has faced decades of sexual abuse claims without being convicted, and has denied all previous allegations.<\/p>\n
Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari confirmed on Monday night R Kelly had raised the $100,000 bail, which was 10% of the $1m bond set by a judge over the weekend.<\/p>\n
His court appearance and plea came weeks after the documentary series Surviving R Kelly aired. It contained allegations of abuse from many women including the star’s former wife.<\/p>\n
He is being tried for sexual assaults alleged to have happened since 1998. He met one of the four women at a restaurant on her 16th birthday, and another – who was also 16 – when she asked for his autograph.<\/p>\n
The court ordered the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, to surrender his passport and to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18.<\/p>\n
He had reportedly struggled to pay the $100,000 bail payment required to leave Cook County Jail.<\/p>\n
Later on Monday, high-profile attorney Gloria Allred said in a news conference that she was now representing more than six women who allege the singer abused them.<\/p>\n
R Kelly is next scheduled to appear in court on 22 March.<\/p>\n
Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"