Who Is Jerhonda Pace? R. Kelly Facing New Accusations Of Underage Sex

Jerhonda Pace claimed Monday to be among a long list of woman that R. Kelly has traumatized with sexual and physical abuse, according to BuzzFeed. Pace, who originally went by Jerhonda Johnson before marriage, accused the R&B hit-maker of engaging in sexual relations with her before the Chicago resident was 17, the age of consent in Illinois.

The alleged victim claims to have been blackmailed by Kelly's camp with a nondisclosure agreement, but Pace decided to break it and come forward with her story. Pace's allegations come on the heels of controversy that surfaced in July, at which time several alleged victims and a family of one of the victims alleged the singer established a sex cult.

Pace, who is now a mother of three children, previously referred to herself as a Kelly "superfan." After skipping high school classes to attend Kelly's 2008 trial at 15, she publicly defended the singer and claimed that he was not guilty of child pornography. However, her perception changed when she then allegedly became one of his victims.

Pace, 24, claimed that the "Trapped In The Closet" singer had the power to silence her through a nondisclosure agreement, which awarded her with a cash settlement in exchange — an aspect of the Kelly controversy that hasn't been reported before. Pace said she decided to speak out against the singer because of her concern for other women who are allegedly involved with him today.

After exchanging contact information at the trial, Pace claims the pair first engaged in oral sex in 2009. During their second encounter, the singer allegedly gave Pace an alcoholic beverage before they had sex, and she became drunk. Throughout their seven-month long relationship, Kelly filmed many of their sexual interactions without seeking Pace's permission first.

"I didn't have anybody to speak up on my behalf when I was going through what I was going through with him," she told BuzzFeed. "He's brainwashed them really bad, and it kind of reminds me of Charles Manson...Kelly needs to be stopped."

A representative for R. Kelly issued a statement to International Business Times Tuesday about the singer's alleged involvement with Pace.

"The allegations against Mr. Kelly are false and are being made by individuals known to be dishonest," the statement read. "It is clear these continuing stories are the result of the effort of those with personal agendas who are working in concert to interfere with and damage his career. Mr. Kelly again denies any and all wrongdoing and is taking appropriate legal action to protect himself from ongoing defamation."

Many of Pace's accusations align with those made in July by other alleged victims and Jocelyn Savage's family and include strict regulations and involvement with underage women. Alleged victim Jocelyn Savage's father, Timothy Savage, spoke to TMZ in July about the sex cult's existence and its similarities to slavery.

"It's not about being a consenting adult, some of these girls he met when they were 17 — it's a known fact. Some of these things we're talking about, it's not about sexual [stuff]," Savage told TMZ. "You know, you can have a relationship with anybody at a certain age when you get of age, but it's the abuse we're talking about. It's almost like slavery."

He added, "Nobody can allow women to go through what we're going through, especially our daughter. We have experienced this first hand and we know what's going on."

Kelly, 50, has denied all allegations of his involvement with a sex cult. He first addressed the sex cult allegations to his Twitter followers in July, saying, "I just want to let all of my fans out there know that, despite all of the crap y’all hearing, I will be coming to the East Coast to do my show — and believe me, y'all, it’s a bunch of crap."

Although he was acquitted in 2008's child pornography trial, the singer has also been accused of engaging in sexual relations with numerous minors before.

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