Jackson facing new abuse claim

Detectives are investigating a new allegation of child abuse against Michael Jackson involving a person who claims to have been victimised in the late 1980s, a police spokeswoman said.

Jackson has denied child molestation charges involving another alleged victim in Santa Barbara County. Jackson lawyer Benjamin Brafman said yesterday that he was unaware of the Los Angeles Police Department investigation.

“We have never been informed by the LAPD of any investigation that they are conducting of Michael Jackson,” he said. “I would point out that since I have been involved in this case I have addressed literally dozens of completely baseless rumours on a daily basis, and this appears to be just another one of them.”

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office asked the LAPD to investigate the new allegation a month ago, said Mary Grady, commander of the department’s public information office.

“The victim alleges the acts took place in the city of Los Angeles in the late 1980s,” she said.

The allegations are being investigated by the Child Protective Section of the department’s Juvenile Division. Ms Grady declined to elaborate on such details as the age or sex of the alleged victim.

Los Angeles district attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons declined comment.

“This is a matter under investigation by the LAPD,” she said. “We are not the investigative agency.”

Santa Barbara County prosecutors did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday evening.

Also yesterday, an appeals court rejected a request by several news agencies to lift a gag order placed on the parties by the judge in the Santa Barbara case.

An lawyer representing news organisations, including The Associated Press, said in a filing last week before the state Court of Appeals that the order imposed unconstitutional “prior restraint” on lawyers and potential witnesses. He asked that it be immediately lifted.

Jackson and his lawyers also oppose the order on grounds that it blocks their ability to address false rumours and news reports.

Jackson was charged by the Santa Barbara district attorney late last year with committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child and administering an intoxicating agent to the child. Jackson has pleaded innocent. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for April 30.

The pop singer reportedly reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with a boy who accused him of molestation in 1993. No criminal charges were brought in that case.