Bolingbrook man charged with threatening federal prosecutors in R. Kelly's racketeering case in New York

CBS News Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Bolingbrook man has been charged with threatening three federal prosecutors in New York, after disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking charges last year.

Christopher Gunn, who also goes by the name DeBoSki, was arrested on Saturday in Chicago on a charge of making threats involving serious bodily injury or death, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn.

He is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Chicago on Monday.

Gunn, who attended at least one day of Kelly's racketeering trial in New York last September, is accused of posting a video on YouTube one week after Kelly was convicted, showing the location of the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn.

"That's where they at. That's where they work at…We're going to storm they office. We're gonna storm they office," Gunn said in the video, according to the charges against him. "[I]f you ain't got the stomach for the shit we bout to do, I'm asking that you just bail out."

Shortly after, the same video features a clip from the 1991 film "Boyz N The Hood," showing a group of four people about to shoot someone.

Prosecutors say Gunn also posted a message on his YouTube account on Friday, saying he planned to attend Kelly's upcoming sentencing hearing on Wednesday, saying "I have a spot for us allllll (sic) to link during the trial see you there."

The charges also accuse Gunn of selling ammunition through CashApp at least eight times between February 2021 and June 2022, including one sale in which the buyer wrote "30 rounds.. free R Kelly," and another in which the buyer wrote "30 rounds on the haters."

Kelly was convicted last September on all eight counts of sex trafficking and one count of racketeering, following weeks of graphic testimony at his federal trial in New York.

At his New York trial, the prosecution argued Kelly ran an enterprise of assistants, bodyguards and others, all used to recruit, groom and exploit underage girls, boys and young women for his own sexual gratification.

Several women, underage at the time, accused Kelly of using them for perverse and sadistic whims. Those allegations included taking some across state lines for sex acts.

Among the claims detailed at trial – his marriage to the late R&B singer Aaliyah, and how a government worker was bribed to get her a fake ID so Kelly could marry the then-15-year-old because he feared he had gotten her pregnant.

Witnesses testified about being locked in rooms and having to ask permission to leave, or use the bathroom. Others alleged Kelly gave them herpes without disclosing he had an STD.

He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday. Prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence him to at least 25 years in prison. His defense team is seeking the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.

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