| G-Unit |
Posted
on 19-Nov-03 03:14 PM
District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson faces multiple counts of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than 14.
Jackson could face a minimum of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison on each count if convicted.
Authorities said bail on the warrant was set at $3 million. A judge has ordered affidavits in the case sealed for 45 days.
"We would encourage him to turn himself in and cooperate with law enforcement," said Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson.
Sneddon said his message for Jackson is: "Get over here and get checked in."
Jackson's spokesman, Stuart Backerman, released a statement saying arrangements have been made with the district attorney for Jackson "to return to Santa Barbara to immediately confront and prove these charges unfounded."
He promised the allegations will be proved false in court.
"Michael would never harm a child in any way," he said. "When the evidence is presented and the allegations proven to be malicious and wholly unfounded, Michael will be able to put this nightmare behind him."
Sneddon said child molestation charges will be filed soon. No civil suit has been filed in the case and none is expected, he said.
"We have a cooperative victim in this particular proceeding," Sneddon said. Authorities asked other possible victims to come forward.
CBS announced Wednesday that "given the gravity of the charges" against Jackson it was postponing a special program on him scheduled for November 26.
The allegations come almost a decade after Jackson settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who slept over at Neverland Ranch when he was 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him.
Criminal investigators stopped pursuing their case after the lawsuit was settled and the boy -- by then 14 -- made clear he did not want to participate in any prosecution of the singer.
The law has since been changed to allow prosecutors to force an alleged molestation victim to testify against a defendant.
Sneddon said he did not know whether the parents of the accuser were aware of the past allegations.
Dozens of law enforcement officers searched Jackson's Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara for about 13 hours Tuesday, and search warrants were served on two other locations in Southern California where some property was seized, authorities said
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