NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — R. Kelly's former manager was sentenced Thursday to 20 months in prison after he pleaded to charges of stalking and harassing a woman in an Eastern District of New York racketeering case against Kelly.
Donnell Russell, who prosecutors say, is a self-described manager, advisor and friend of Robert Sylvester Kelly — also known as "R. Kelly" — harassed and threatened Jane Doe and her mother after the victim filed a civil lawsuit against the disgraced R&B singer.
The 47-year-old continued his harassment campaign after it was clear that Jane Doe was a victim in Kelly's criminal case in the EDNY and would likely testify against Kelly.
According to prosecutors, between November 2018 and February 2020, Russell threatened to reveal sexually explicit photos of Jane Doe and to publicly reveal her sexual history if she did not withdraw her lawsuit against Kelly.
In November 2018, Russell caused a letter with attachments, purportedly written by Kelly, to be mailed to Jane Doe’s lawyer at the time. The attachments included cropped nude photographs of Jane Doe with the text, "The next two pictures have been cropped for the sake of not exposing her extremities to the world, yet!!!"
By December 2018, Russell, using his alias "Colon Dunn," sent a series of text messages to Jane Doe and her mother that contained the same photographs of Jane Doe and said, "Just a sample. We will seek criminal charges. You’ve been warned," as well as "Publishing soon" and "[T]his is Colon."
Prosecutors said that on Jan. 3, 2019, Russell sent additional text messages to Jane Doe and her mother, stating, "Pull the plug or you will be exposed."
Three days later, Russell, using the Colon Dunn alias, created a Facebook page named "Surviving Lies," a play on the title of Lifetime’s "Surviving R. Kelly" documentary, and posted screen shots of text messages between Kelly and Jane Doe, which contained the same sexually explicit photographs of Jane Doe.
In late January 2020, Russell appeared on two live interviews with vloggers supporting Kelly and discussed Kelly’s legal troubles, which were streamed live on the internet via YouTube. Prosecutors said Russell again displayed the same sexually explicit photographs of Jane Doe and broadcast them publicly over the internet.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement that "the punishment meted out to the defendant today is a victory for crime victims, particularly those of sexual assault and abuse, who are often reluctant to come forward to law enforcement or pursue legal recourse, given the trauma and fear of retaliation associated with publicly discussing their experiences."
Related
Related
