R. Kelly “missing after prison security verify he’s escaped beneath facility.”
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No, R. Kelly didn’t escape prison
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- R. Kelly didn’t escape prison. He was recently moved from a federal detention facility in New York to one in Chicago where he awaits another criminal trial.
At the end of June, singer R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he was convicted in New York of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. At the time, he was being held in a Brooklyn federal detention center. But an Instagram post a couple of weeks later claimed that he had escaped custody.
"BREAKING: R KELLY reportedly MISSING after PRISON SECURITY verify he’s ESCAPED beneath FACILITY," the July 14 post said. It featured an image of Kelly and a picture of a tunnel with the ABC News logo and the word "exclusive."
The post elaborated that he had escaped "his New York prison only a week after being sentenced."
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
R. Kelly did leave the Brooklyn detention center, but he didn’t break out.
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The Chicago Tribune reported that Kelly, 55, was moved from Brooklyn to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago on July 12 in advance of another criminal trial. That one is set to start Aug. 15 and involves charges that Kelly conspired with two former associates to rig a 2008 child pornography case against him in Cook County, Illinois. (The Atlantic detailed that indictment, as well as the one from New York, in a 2019 story here.)
Kelly’s full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly and we searched for it among current federal inmates on July 18.
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We found "Robert Sylveste Kelly," a Black male age 55, who was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
We previously debunked a claim in 2021 that a photo showed Kelly being released from prison. The photo was an old one and showed him leaving jail in 2019 after paying child support he owed his ex-wife. He was still in custody then, and he’s still in custody now.
We rate this post False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, July 14, 2022
CNN, R. Kelly placed on suicide watch after being sentenced to 30 years in prison, his lawyer says, July 1, 2022
CNN, R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison for federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, June 30, 2022
Associated Press, Disgraced R&B star R. Kelly back in Chicago for sex trial, July 13, 2022
Chicago Tribune, R. Kelly back in Chicago’s federal jail ahead of trial next month, July 13, 2022
PolitiFact, An old photo of R. Kelly leaving jail is being shared online but the singer is still in custody, June 4, 2021
Bureau of Prisons, Inmate search: Robert Kelly, July 18, 2022
The Atlantic, The R. Kelly Federal Indictments Describe a Conspiracy, July 12, 2019
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No, R. Kelly didn’t escape prison
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