THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030534
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: EDENTON LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The man indicted on new sexual abuse charges months after a retrial was ordered on 99 old abuse charges left the Chowan County jail Thursday when his employer posted a $50,000 bond.
``He's out of here,'' Chowan County court clerk Mike McArthur said of Robert F. Kelly Jr.
A $50,000 certificate of deposit was delivered to the clerk's office and Kelly was released about noon. McArthur said the bond was paid by Triangle Telephone Co. of Cary.
Kelly was arrested Monday on eight charges of abusing a 9-year-old girl in 1987. The maximum penalty for the new charges is three life sentences plus 50 years in prison.
Kelly was convicted by a jury in 1992 on 99 charges of abusing children who attended his Little Rascals Day Care Center here. A judge sentenced him to 12 consecutive life terms.
He was released on $200,000 bond last year after the state Court of Appeals overturned the day care charges because of errors in his trial. Kelly was arrested Monday on the new charges, which prosecutors said weren't related to the day care center case, and held on $50,000 additional bond.
Kelly has been working for Triangle Telephone since his release from prison. Another former co-defendant in the day care case, Willard Scott Privott, also was hired by the firm.
KEYWORDS: SEXUAL ABUSE CHILD ABUSE SEX CRIME by CNB