Another person connected to the complicated web of R. Kelly’s rape and sexual abuse cases has been sentenced to prison.
The man who blackmailed one of the disgraced Grammy Award-winner’s victims has been locked up.
On Thursday, November 17th, Donnell Russell, one of the members of the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s inner circle, was sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Russell threatened to release explicitly sexual pictures of a victim if she did not withdraw her civil lawsuit against the singer and stop participating in the Lifetime “Surviving R. Kelly” doc-series.
He called the show, produced by pioneering Hip-Hop journalist dream Hampton, a “negative campaign.”
The 47-year-old, also known as Colon Dunn, eventually released the photos, embarrassing the woman right before R. Kelly’s 2021 sex trafficking trial.
One of the messages he sent her that was used as evidence against him stated the picture drop was “Just a sample. We will seek criminal charges. You’ve been warned.”
Another one said, “Pull the plug or you will be exposed.”
In July, flunky for the chart-topper pled guilty to interstate stalking charges in the Eastern District of New York.
Russell later requested that U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly be merciful and give him a below-minimal probation sentence. However, prosecutors stepped up and spoke against it.
They presented a YouTube interview he did titled “Donnell Russell talks about the New York Trials & Why He Took A Plea Deal.”
The prosecutors said, “As to this case, the defendant repeatedly minimizes his offense conduct and demonstrates an utter lack of remorse for harassing and threatening Jane Doe and for publicly posting sexually explicit photographs of Jane Doe to Facebook.”
They added, “for example, the defendant refers to Jane Doe and her mother as ‘questionable’ and boasts about threatening Jane Doe and her mother.”
Currently, Michael Williams, one of the associates who tried to intimidate witnesses, is serving an eight-year sentence. As reported by AllHipHop.com, he set an SUV on fire outside of a victim’s home, while she was in the house with five other people, including two children.
Richard Arline Jr. is the third defendant. He admitted to offering money to a victim not to testify, and he is now locked up too.