R. Kelly Charged With 10 Counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse

R. Kelly has been charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Cook County, Illinois.

The singer’s first court date stemming from the charges is March 8th, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The Chicago Tribune also confirmed the pending charges against Kelly.

In the past week, a previously unseen videotape allegedly depicting Kelly having sex with an underage girl had been acquired by Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti; CNN also viewed the videotape, which Avenatti reported handed over to Cook County prosecutors after receiving it from a whistleblower within Kelly’s organization. On Thursday, a new accuser came forward with allegations that Kelly had sex with her when she was underage. read more »

The Spotlight Effect: This Church Scandal Was Revealed by Outsiders

The Vatican’s conference on child sexual abuse would never be happening, and the dark secret of clerical sexual abuse and cover-up might never have come to light, if not for outsiders to the hierarchy. read more »

Top cardinal admits the Catholic Church destroyed files to hide sex abuse

“The rights of victims were effectively trampled underfoot.”

The Roman Catholic Church took pains to deliberately hide the extent of its global sex abuse crisis, going as far as destroying documents and failing to compile records that could be used to prosecute perpetrators, a top cardinal admitted this week. read more »

Maryland delegates consider statute of limitations and child sex abuse case

Child sex abuse survivors and advocates set to testify in support of House Bill 687 Thursday.

Currently, Maryland law says a victim has until age 38 to file a civil lawsuit. However, those who are older than 25 when they come forward must prove gross negligence, which is something notoriously difficult to prove. read more »