R. Kelly was so controlling of his young girlfriends, he had a list of “Rob’s rules” that dictated they must ask permission to do most things — and were forbidden from leaving certain rooms in his Chicago mansion, his former personal assistant testified in Brooklyn federal court Friday.
Anthony Navarro, who worked for the “Bump n’ Grind” crooner between 2007 and 2009, was asked to enforce the rules — which also barred him from speaking to any of the females as he shuttled them to the abode in a Lamborghini and other high-end cars.
“The things you had to do was just a bit uncomfortable…it was almost like the ‘Twilight Zone,’ you went into the gate and it was like a different world, just a strange place,” Navarro said on the third day of the 54-year-old singer’s sex crimes and racketeering trial.
While on the job with Kelly, he allegedly escorted his teenage girlfriends to their designated rooms at the Olympia Fields manse, then made sure they didn’t leave, said Navarro, who said he’s also worked for Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, and Kanye West.
“If they’re not where they’re supposed to be, you’d have to tell Rob or a manager,” said Navarro. “They weren’t supposed to be wandering around, they weren’t supposed to leave the room.”
But, while reviewing surveillance camera footage, he once saw two teenage girls hop a fence at the home and run in an apparent attempt to escape.
“They looked really young,” said Navarro. “I thought they were like mid-aged teenagers.”
Navarro also saw Kelly’s associates hand out the singer’s phone number to girls in the audience at shows or at malls and restaurants, he testified.
“We were instructed not to talk to any of the females,” he said. “Sometimes they would get envelopes of money when leaving.”
Navarro was an assistant for Kelly during the same time period he’s accused of sexually assaulting Jerhonda Pace when she was age 16 and he was 42.