Michael Jackson faced multiple charges of child molestation on Wednesday in the wake of a raid on his ranch in California. The singer has been accused of ”lewd and lascivious” behaviour with a child under the age of 14.
Lawyers were last night negotiating with the Santa Barbara sheriff’s department for the singer, who has been in Las Vegas for the past three weeks, to hand himself over. Bail was to be set at $3-million and Jackson was required to surrender his passport after the arrest warrant was issued.
In a statement, Jackson’s spokesperson, Stuart Backerman, said last night: ”The outrageous allegations… are false. Michael would never harm a child in any way. These scurrilous and totally unfounded allegations will be proven false in a courtroom. Naturally, the implications are distressing to everyone who hears them.” He added that the singer was returning to Santa Barbara to ”immediately confront and prove these charges unfounded”.
Jackson has hired a well-known defence lawyer, Mark Geragos, who represented Winona Ryder on shoplifting charges last year.
If convicted, he could face up to eight years in jail on each charge. Jackson has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the investigation was part of a vendetta against him.
The search of his Neverland estate in Santa Barbara started on Tuesday and continued last night. It was apparently centred on computers and videos at the 2 600-acre estate.
The singer was the subject of a similar investigation in 1993, when allegations were made by a 12-year-old boy and his parents. No charges were brought after the boy declined to give evidence and an estimated $12-million settlement was reached with his family.
Yesterday the Santa Barbara district attorney, Tom Sneddon, who also oversaw that investigation a decade ago, said this case was different because the child had been cooperative. He told a press conference that ”a lot of apologists for Jackson say it’s deja vu, another rip-off by a family”.
Cracking jokes with the assembled journalists, Sneddon said there had been suggestions that Jackson had ”bought himself out” of the previous case. He also asked for other alleged victims to come forward.
In his statement, Backerman condemned ”the levity of the environment surrounding the announcement of these very serious charges”.
The current investigation was sparked by claims made by the boy to a therapist about events at the Neverland ranch. His parents were then advised to contact the Santa Barbara authorities, who have been investigating for the past two months.
There is a history of enmity between Jackson and Sneddon, who is believed to be the subject of a song, DS, by Jackson, in which the singer apparently celebrates the fact that the previous criminal case did not proceed against him.
This time round Jackson’s lawyers contacted the Santa Barbara authorities after hearing about the raid, indicating that they would cooperate with the inquiry and make arrangements for the singer to talk to investigators.
”This was a surprise, not only to me, but to everyone,” said a Jackson family lawyer, Brian Oxman.
Oxman said of the Jackson family in a television interview: ”It is very upsetting to them. They are just really very shocked by this entire incident and they go, ‘Here we go again. Michael is just a sitting target for people to take pot shots at him’.”
For the past three weeks Jackson has been in Las Vegas with his three children and his entourage. He was due to be recording in a studio yesterday, and a group of supporters gathered outside carrying ”We love you, Michael” signs.
On Tuesday, his new single was released along with a collection of his hits, entitled Number Ones. The CBS television network cancelled a special retrospective of the singer scheduled next week, due to the ”gravity” of the charges.
Jackson has always denied allegations of child abuse made against him. At the time of the 1993 claims he appeared on television to make a tearful denial in which he referred to the claims as ”disgusting”.
In the course of the two documentaries made about him earlier this year, he said: ”I have never and would never harm a child.” His ranch has been the site of many parties for children.
Earlier this year his fitness as a father was questioned after he was seen holding the youngest of his children from the window of a hotel in Germany.
No charge was brought but the singer admitted it had been ”a terrible mistake” to hold the baby over the balcony. – Guardian Unlimited Â