Arrest warrant issued for Jackson

An arrest warrant has been issued for Michael Jackson over new allegations of child abuse.

US police were reported to have been ready to handcuff the singer and take him into custody when they raided his Neverland Ranch in California.

According to TV reports, they were unable to serve the warrant because Jackson and his three children were in Las Vegas.

Investigators are expected to spend a second day at the estate, investigating claims of child molestation, believed to involve a boy of 12 or 13.

After arriving with a search warrant yesterday, more than 60 officers from the Santa Barbara County sheriff 's department spent the day gathering evidence for what was described as "an ongoing criminal investigation".

Police remain tight-lipped about the allegations which were made in a sealed court affidavit. They arrived in a caravan of vehicles including an ambulance, mobile crime laboratory and a portable lavatory.

The investigation is headed by district attorney Thomas Sneedon, who examined earlier claims of child abuse by Jackson in 1993.

Although Jackson avoided prosecution, he later made a multi-million-dollar outofcourt settlement to 14-year-old Jordy Chandler who claimed he had been molested by the singer during sleepovers at the mansion.

The two cases are said to be unrelated, although police say the first case still remains open.

One report said the boy in the latest allegations had been talking to prosecutors for several weeks and may also have tried to reach a settlement.

Police say they will hold a press conference later today. Jackson was staying at the Mirage hotel in Las Vegas at the time of the raid, recording a video. His new greatest hits CD, Number Ones, was released yesterday.

Jackson's attorney Brian Oxman confirmed: "The Santa Barbara Sheriff 's Department did issue an arrest warrant. They will be working through myself to negotiate a surrender."

In a rambling statement released by the lawyer, Jackson, 45, 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."

His friend, Uri Geller, said he was "very concerned" about the singer, adding: "He is very gullible and he is naive. I believe he is innocent."

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Jacko Song About D.A. May Haunt Him Now

Will a song from Michael Jackson's HIStory album come back to haunt him now?

AP
Michael Jackson
Jackson fans have always known that "D.S.," a track on HIStory but certainly not included on the new Jackson greatest hits album, was a pointed reference to Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr.

Sneddon, who led the investigation into allegations that Jackson molested a 13-year-old boy in 1993, is still on the case today and said to be more eager than ever to "get" Jackson.

In the song, Jackson actually appears to call out the name Tom Sneddon, even though the lyric sheet says the name is "Dom Sheldon." Sneddon is no doubt even angrier for the baiting in the song, which implies he is a member of the KKK and has no social life.

The line that may really come back to haunt Michael is "He didn't do half what he say." Now Sneddon is said to be ready to do twice what he say, and more, with the new case looming over Jackson.

These are the lyrics that appear on the HIStory album:

"DOM SHELDON"

They wanna get my a**
Dead or alive
You know he really tried to take me
Down by surprise
I bet he missioned with the CIA
He don't do half what he say

Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man

He out shock in every single way
He'll stop at nothing just to get his political say
He think he bad cause he's BSTA
I bet he never had a social life anyway
You think he brother with the KKK?
I know his mother never taught him right anyway
He want your vote just to remain DA.
He don't do half what he say

Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man

Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man

Does he send letters to the FBI?
Did he say to either do it or die?

Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man

Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man
Dom Sheldon is a cold man

Dom S. Sheldon is a cold man.

Bashir Film at Root of Jacko Case

The controversial Martin Bashir documentary about Michael Jackson that aired last February on ABC may now come back to haunt him.

The whole world knows by now that the Santa Barbara sheriff’s department and other arms of the law have been combing over Jackson’s Neverland Ranch since early Tuesday morning. The Santa Barbara district attorney, I am told, “is determined to make a case stick.” He is even said to have sequestered the family of a 12-year-old boy who may have made a complaint against Jackson.

Rumors of an arrest warrant for Jackson, who has been in Las Vegas for three weeks filming a new video, began to swirl by Tuesday evening. Calls to Jackson’s lawyer and the Santa Barbara sheriff’s office were not returned.

But the real irony here is that Jackson may have filmed evidence that will either save him or hurt him if such a case proceeds through the courts. Unlike the story a decade ago when he was branded a child molester and settled a case out of court, this story may have been documented. First, Jackson let Bashir follow him with cameras for months before selling his documentary around the world. Then it turned out Jackson was filming the filming, with miles of film shot by all parties. Police will be examining everything from those films, including all the interviews and Jackson’s interactions with others, to search for clues about these latest allegations.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening, Jackson decried all the self-appointed friends and spokesmen who took to the airwaves today in his defense. Some of those friends, as with most celebrity cases, are turning into paid consultants to various TV shows. Among those who’ve suddenly bobbed up on the air: Shmuley Boteach, the shamed rabbi who ran a shady charity with Jackson for a short time. The two have actually not been on any terms for more than a year. A Jackson insider, hearing that Boteach had started giving interviews, literally shrieked with horror: “I hate that guy. He’s not Michael’s friend. Someone should tell him to shut up, already.”

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, there was some speculation that Jackson’s new problems stemmed from the infamous 10-year charges brought by the son of a Los Angeles dentist-screenwriter. That case was settled before it got to the arrest stage, with Jackson paying the boy’s family a reported $20 million. Last spring I reported that the boy’s story had been questioned in a detailed 1994 GQ magazine article. Both the boy and his father have since purchased multimillion-dollar homes.

Another theory about the Jackson case is that it may have something to do with jailed Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano. Only a couple days into his 27-month sentence for wire tapping, Pellicano is thought to be negotiating with federal authorities for an early release. His leverage may be files on celebrities he investigated or worked for, implicating them while freeing himself.

“There may be a long line outside the D.A.’s door of people who want immunity,” a source said last night. Already, several high-profile figures, including attorney Bert Fields, have admitted that they’ve been questioned about the work Pellicano did for them.

But Jackson’s case may not be so complicated in the long run. By simply ignoring criticism and openly entertaining children in his house — and in his bedroom — he may have set himself up for this investigation. The fact that so much of the last two years is on film may have seemed normal to him as a person who lives in the public eye. But to the police, all that publicity may very well seem like nothing so much as evidence.

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