A Pennsylvania man said Sunday that he turned a videotape over to law enforcement that he alleges shows singer R. Kelly abusing underage girls.
The man, Gary Dennis, told reporters that he was “disgusted” and “horrified” by the tape, which he found while cleaning out an old box of VHS recordings at his home.
Dennis’ lawyer, Gloria Allred, said the tape was turned over to the United States Attorney's Office in New York's Eastern District. NBC News has not reviewed the tape and can not confirm its contents.
John Marzulli, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office, declined to comment.
In a statement, Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, denied that the singer was on "any" tape.
“It’s not him,” Greenberg said, adding that it was “obviously now just open season on R. Kelly.”
Kelly, whose real name is Robert Kelly, pleaded not guilty on Feb. 25 to 10 counts of felony aggravated sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were younger than 17.
In a tearful interview with CBS News’ Gayle King last week, Kelly called the charges “lies.”
"This is not me,” he said. “I’m fighting for my f---ing life," he said.
Lawyer Michael Avenatti said last month that he gave video evidence to authorities in Chicago allegedly showing Kelly performing sex acts on a 14-year-old girl.
On Sunday, Avenatti tweeted that five people had contacted his office over the last week claiming to have videos showing Kelly having sex with underage girls.
“Upon investigation, they don't and the individuals would have no reason to have such a tape,” he said. “Publicizing this ‘evidence’ undermines the process.”
It wasn’t immediately clear if Dennis had contacted Avenatti.
In an interview Sunday, Avenatti said he had not seen the video but declined to say if Dennis reached out to him.
In an email, Allred said that to the “best of my knowledge, my client, Mr. Dennis, only contacted me.”
Dennis, a nursing home assistant, told reporters that he found the footage after seeing a tape marked “R. Kelly.”
He said he’d never met Kelly and wasn’t sure where it came from, NBC New York reported.
“I thought it was a recording of an R. Kelly concert,” Dennis said in a statement, adding that it instead appeared to show Kelly “engaging with these children in sexually abusive acts.”
“I was inclined to throw out the tape and put it in the garbage, but then I discussed it with my wife and we decided the right thing to do was to turn it over to law enforcement.”
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