Three Men Charged With Threatening Women In R. Kelly Case

Disgraced R&B star R. Kelly's defense team has been busy working on trying to get him out of jail during this pandemic and they have not been successful so far. The Grammy Award winning singer continues to await trial on over a dozen state and federal charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York.

But federal prosecutors announced charges on Wednesday against acquaintances of Kelly which surely won't help matters for his defense team.

According to Black America Web, Federal prosecutors announced charges against three men accused of threatening and intimidating women who have accused R. Kelly of abuse, including one man suspected of setting fire to a vehicle in Florida.

Richard Arline Jr., 31, is accused of offering to pay off a woman he believed had “too much” incriminating information against Kelly. Authorities set up a wiretap and recorded a call in which Arline claimed he had spoken with Kelly behind bars during a three-way call and offered to pay a victim $500,000 to keep her from cooperating in Kelly’s prosecution.

Donnell Russell, 45, of Chicago, is charged with harassing a Kelly victim and her mother after the unidentified woman filed a lawsuit against Kelly. Russell, a manager and adviser to Kelly, sent a letter to the woman’s lawyer with cropped nude photographs of her and later sent her a text warning her: “Pull the plug or you will be exposed.”

Finally, Michael Williams, 37, of Valdosta, Georgia, traveled to Florida in June and set fire to an SUV parked outside a residence where one of Kelly’s victims was staying. Prosecutors say Williams also conducted Internet searches for “the detonation properties of fertilizer and diesel fuel, witness intimidation and witness tampering and countries that do not have extradition with the United States,”.

One of R. Kelly's defense attorneys Steve Greenberg stated the following on Twitter: