R. Kelly‘s longtime assistant, Diana Copeland, took the stand on Monday as the singer’s sex trafficking case continued in Brooklyn, New York.
Copeland, who has worked with Kelly for 15 years, detailed her interactions with the disgraced R&B icon and testified that he was once so paranoid he made her put on a robe to prove she wasn’t wearing a wire, Billboard reports.
“He could get pretty heated,” Copeland explained.
She also claimed that Kelly made her cry on numerous occasions, kept strict policies, and once made her falsely write a letter confessing to stealing from him.
Still, Copeland says that she did not observe any of the alleged abuse that previous witnesses discussed when they testified.
Kelly, 54, whose birth name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, faces state and federal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering, coercion and other charges related to the alleged abuse and exploitation of six women — three of whom were underage at the time — over the course of 25 years. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.