One of singer R. Kelly‘s close associates pleaded guilty to arson last week in what may have been a targeted attack on one of Kelly’s sexual assault accusers. Michael Williams now faces a minimum of five years in prison for a car fire he says he set in June of 2020 in central Florida, according to a report by Click Orlando. The car belonged to Kelly’s ex-girlfriend Azriel Clary.
Williams is a relative of Kelly’s former publicist, so authorities are hesitant to believe it was a coincidence when he set fire to Clary’s car in Polk County, Florida last summer. Clary has been an outspoken accuser of Kelly on social media, in the “mute R. Kelly” movement. She has reportedly claimed that Kelly sexually and physically abused her during their relationship. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to several charges on the state and federal level.
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Police reportedly obtained Williams’ internet search history, which showed that he had looked up Clary’s address on Google shortly before the arson. On Monday, April 19, he verified their suspicions in court, saying: “I drove from my house to Kissimmee, Florida and deliberately set a car on fire in someone’s driveway.” Williams had struck a plea agreement so that in exchange for his guilty plea, the prosecutors dropped a charge of witness tampering. They may also require Williams to help them in further criminal cases. Williams will not be sentenced until October, at which time he faces a minimum of five years in prison for the arson.
Clary was one of the women discussed in the 2019 Lifetime documentary Surviving R. Kelly. Her mother, Alice Clary and Alice’s husband, Angelo Clary appeared in the documentary to beg their daughter to come home if she saw them. Eventually, she did, and she was reportedly preparing to testify against Kelly in federal court at the time of the arson.
“We heard a big boom. And when my son looked out his window, somebody was running. But they threw something on the car and put it on fire,” Alice Clary reportedly told the 9-1-1 dispatcher. “The car is getting ready to blow up.” In a simultaneous 9-1-1 call of her own, Azriel said: “Someone just tried to throw gasoline on my parents’ car. I don’t know [if the suspect is still there]. I’m inside the house.”
The Clary family has since moved out of the house where the attack occurred. They did not respond to requests for comment on Williams’ guilty plea. The cases against Kelly are still ongoing and could earn him life in prison if he is convicted.
