Photo Credit: R Kelly/Instagram
R Kelly is clearly not going to go down without taking some people with him… literally. Three associates of his were arrested today for scheming to harass, threaten, intimidate and bribe victims of the R&B singer. The Eastern District of New York described charges against the three men, Richard Arline, Jr., Donnell Russell and Michael Williams as attempting to threaten or influence Jane Doe witnesses in the case.
Arling, 31, a long time friend of the singer’s is accused of trying to bribe one witness with $500,000 to not cooperate with authorities. His charge was for engaging in misleading conduct with the woman with the intent of influencing, delaying and preventing her testimony. Russel, 45, a self-described manager, advisor and friend of Kelly’s threatened to release nudes and her sexual history if she didn’t “cease her participation and association with the organizers” of a “negative campaign” against Kelly. He’s accused of sending nude images of her to her attorney captioned with “The next two pictures have been cropped for the sake of not exposing her extremities to the world, yet!!!” The same images were sent to her mother captioned with “You’ve been warned.” He’s charged with using using the mail, internet and cell phones to try to cause emotional distress to her and her mother.
Williams, a 37 year old relative of a former publicist of Kelly’s is accused of lighting an SUV on fire that belongs to the father of a victim of Kelly’s. Cell site records, surveillance footage, toll records and photographs and Williams’ internet searches for the victim’s address all incriminated him and showed he drove from Georgia to Florida to commit the act. He is charged with attempting to use intimidation and threats against the victim to prevent her testimony. He was also charged with “maliciously damaging and destroying a vehicle by means of fire and explosion.” He was arrested Tuesday morning in Pompano Beach, Florida according to the DOJ.
“These crimes shock the conscience. The men charged today allegedly have shown that there is no line they will not cross to help Kelly avoid the consequences of his alleged crimes — even if it means re-victimizing his accusers. These acts not only fly in the face of human decency, they insult the very rule of law,” Homeland Security Investigations special agent-in-charge Peter C. Fitzhugh said in a statement.
Acting United States Attorney Seth DuCharme added, “Efforts to illegally influence pending federal cases, whether through threats of violence, intimidation, damage to property, or payments to buy a potential witness’s silence, will not be tolerated.”
“R Kelly can’t control everyone and is not responsible for these three. He had nothing to do with any of this,” said Kelly’s lawyer Steven Greenberg of Greenberg Trial Lawyers in a statement.
Do you know how insane it is to set someone’s car on fire to intimidate someone? We have officially crossed over into new territory with this case. The last person I personally recall being accused of arson in a dispute was 50 Cent’s baby mother’s home being set on fire that he was accused of doing. While Kelly is currently sitting in prison facing charges in New York of racketeering, coercion of a minor, transportation of a minor and coercion to engage in illegal sexual activity relating to 6 victims awaiting trial, this is definitely going to liven up the case.
