Michael Jackson was arrested tonight over child abuse allegations. The pop superstar flew into Santa Barbara airport in California from Las Vegas on a private jet where he was met by police officers and then taken into custody.
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| Michael Jackson being taken into custody this evening
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Authorities announced yesterday that an arrest warrant alleging child molestation had been issued.
Jackson is charged by the state with lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14, punishable by three to eight years in prison, law enforcement officials said.
"Michael would never harm a child in any way," his spokesman Mr Stuart Backerman said in a statement. "These scurrilous and totally unfounded allegations will be proven false in a courtroom," he added.
The New York Post said the alleged 12-year-old victim is a cancer patient whose "last wish" was to meet Jackson.
The boy told his psychiatrist that Jackson plied him with wine and sleeping pills when he stayed at Neverland.
Fox News said that after Jackson and the boy met, the star allegedly began to pay the family's medical bills and assisted them financially in other ways.
He allegedly knew several months ago that the boy's family was concerned about his relationship with their son, said the US TV channel.
The sex abuse allegations began to come out in the spring when the boy's schoolmates, who apparently knew about his relationship with Jackson, began to taunt and tease him, said Fox.
The taunting caused the boy's mother to seek legal advice. The lawyer suggested the boy see a psychiatrist, who after speaking to the boy decided to contact police.
Similar allegations surfaced against Jackson a decade ago, but they never led to the filing of criminal charges and in 1994 the probe became inactive.
Jackson had maintained his innocence but paid a multimillion-pound civil settlement, and the child would not testify in any criminal proceeding.
In a British TV documentary this year, Jackson said he had slept in a bed with many children.
"When you say bed you're thinking sexual. It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in. ... It's very charming, it's very sweet."
"He is currently at Santa Barbara County main jail to be processed and booked. That process may take approximately one hour," Sheriff Jim Anderson said.
"We expect that he will post bail and turn over his passport at that time."
Jackson had been in Las Vegas filming a music video when dozens of law enforcement agents swarmed his Neverland ranch compound near Santa Barbara on Tuesday to serve a search warrant.
Jackson was handcuffed as he walked into the jail.
AP