Warrant issued for Michael Jackson
I'm quite surprised it took this long.
Source: Arrest warrant issued for Jackson
LOS OLIVOS, California (CNN) --Authorities have issued a warrant for the arrest of singer Michael Jackson, whose Santa Barbara, California, ranch was searched Tuesday, a knowledgeable source close to the investigation told CNN Wednesday.
It was not known when the arrest warrant was issued or what charges have been filed, but the source said Tuesday that the search of the pop star's home was in response to an allegation of child molestation.
About 70 officials from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department and the district attorney's office searched the home, known as Neverland Ranch, for about 10 hours Tuesday as part of what one official called an "ongoing criminal investigation." There was no official word on what they were searching for or may have found.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and the district attorney will hold a news conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. (2 p.m. EST).
"We cannot comment on law enforcement's investigation because we do not yet know what it is about," a spokesman for the entertainer said.
Stuart Backerman, a spokesman for Jackson, said the singer has been in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the past two-and-a-half weeks, shooting a video for the song "One More Chance." That single is on his "Number Ones" album, a greatest-hits collection released Tuesday by Epic Records.
Later this month, a special on Jackson is set to be broadcast on CBS.
According to Backerman's statement, Jackson said: "I've seen lawyers who do not represent me and spokespeople who do not know me speaking for me. These characters always seem to surface with a dreadful allegation just as another project, an album, a video, is being released."
The allegations come almost a decade after Jackson, now 45, settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who had slept over at Neverland Ranch when he was 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him. No criminal charges were filed in that case.
Attorney Larry R. Feldman, who represented the alleged victim in the 1994 child molestation lawsuit against Jackson, told CNN on Tuesday that he would "not confirm or deny" that he is representing anyone in a civil or criminal investigation pertaining to Jackson because of possible "violation of attorney-client privilege."
Brian Oxman, an attorney for the Jackson family, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that he believes the investigation stems from someone else seeking financial gain from Jackson.
"It is a case of excitement and hysteria because we have the same accusations that we had 10 years ago," he said. "It's like playing the playoffs all over again."
Johnnie Cochran, Jackson's attorney in the case 10 years ago, said it's odd the search warrant was served the day the singer's latest album was released.
"I think it's more than coincidence. I think it was planned," he said on "Larry King Live."
Cochran said he's tried to counsel Jackson "not to ever put yourself in that position" of being alone with young children.
"But that's who Michael Jackson is, he's a very, very naive person in many respects, and there's no question about that. Yeah, he does wear a bull's eye," Cochran said.
Backerman criticized what he called "the malignant horde of media hounds claiming to speak for Michael on this and many other issues.
"A rogues' gallery of hucksters and self-styled 'inside sources' have dominated the airwaves since reports of a search of Neverland broke, speculating, guessing and fabricating information about an investigation they couldn't possibly know about," he said.
Backerman said Jackson will "cooperate fully with authorities in any investigation even as it is conducted, yet again, while he is not home."
Terms of the 1994 lawsuit settlement were confidential, though the boy's attorney -- Feldman -- said at the time they were happy to resolve the matter.
Cochran said at the time that Jackson maintained his innocence and that the settlement was in no way an admission of guilt.
Criminal investigators stopped pursuing their case after the lawsuit was settled and the young boy -- by then 14 -- made clear he did not want to participate in any prosecution of the singer.
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