www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/19/jackson.ranch/index.html
SANTA BARBARA, California CNN - Authorities are awaiting the surrender of pop star Michael Jackson and say they plan to charge him with multiple counts of child molestation. Jackson is expected to meet his attorney, Mark Geragos, at the Santa Barbara County sheriffs office and turn himself in to authorities late Thursday morning, a source told CNN. Jacksons huge estate, Neverland Ranch, is in Santa Barbara County. District Attorney Tom Sneddon said Jackson faces multiple counts of lewd or lascivious contact with a child younger than 14. When authorities announced the arrest warrant for Jackson on Wednesday, they indicated he had a limited amount of time to surrender and turn in his passport. Sneddon said his message for Jackson is: Get over here and get checked in. Transcript of news conference Jackson, 45, was in Las Vegas, Nevada, shooting a video, his spokesman, Stuart Backerman said. 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. 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. Authorities released no details about the child or the time of the alleged molestation. Jackson could face a minimum of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison on each count if convicted. The warrant set his bail at $3 million dollars, according to authorities. 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. Sneddon said he did not know whether the parents of the accuser were aware of the past allegations. He said no civil suit has been filed in the case and none is expected. We have a cooperative victim in this particular proceeding, Sneddon said. Dozens of law enforcement officers searched Jacksons Neverland Ranch for about 13 hours Tuesday, and search warrants were served on two other locations in Southern California where some property was seized, authorities said. Jacksons mansion is on a 2,600-acre estate about 50 miles 80 kilometers northwest of Santa Barbara and features amusement park rides, a petting zoo and statues of children. Backerman said the tone of the authorities news conference was disturbing. We are disturbed by the levity of the environment surrounding the announcement of these very serious charges, he said. Backerman said the singer has been in Las Vegas 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. Questions have been raised about whether the execution of the search warrants was timed to coincide with the music release. In fact, we were going to execute these warrants several weeks ago, but had to put it off for operational reasons, he said. It really has nothing to do with his album or whatever else hes doing in his life.
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