You’d think a high-profile prisoner like R. Kelly would be easy to locate but according to his attorney … you’d be wrong.
The disgraced singer is scheduled to appear in a New York City court on Friday to be arraigned on charges that he sexually abused women and girls.
R. Kelly was transported from Chicago to New York on Thursday for the hearing but his attorney, Douglas Anton, says that since then he has been unable to speak to his client.
In a letter to federal Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione, obtained by The Blast, Anton writes, “I have not been able to see my client yet to intelligently discuss with him what is to transpire tomorrow, which is something I must be able to do.”
Anton said that Bureau of Prison officials have not been super helpful on the matter.
He wrote, “I have spent the hours that followed his landing on the phone with the BOP at both New York MCC and Brooklyn MDC trying to locate my client, but no one would provide that information to me, even recognizing I am his attorney, instead directing me to bop.gov to find out where he would be.”
As of this morning, the BOP website does list R. Kelly’s location as a facility in Brooklyn.
Anton said he would try and visit Kelly before today’s hearing — which is supposed to start at 10:30 AM ET — but asked the judge for “some understanding” if they happen to show up late.
“Therefore, I am informing the court and my respected adversary in the government that I will seeking to visit with my client very early tomorrow, if I am able to locate him, and prior to our 10:30am Arraignment so as to not alter the Court’s schedule,” Anton wrote. “However, if that becomes difficult, I may just have to wait until he is brought over to the Courthouse and ask for the ability to spend time with him in a preparation visitation alone, and/or with co-defense counsel.”
Kelly’s lawyer filed another letter this week, seeking his release on bail, in which he referred to the singer’s accusers as “disgruntled groupies.”
