Updated 3:04 PM ET November 19, 2003
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Michael Jackson was ordered on Wednesday to surrender to California authorities to face multiple charges of child molestation, police said.
Authorities refused to reveal any details of the case against the pop superstar.
"An arrest warrant for Mr. Jackson has been issued on multiple counts of child molestation. The bail amount on the warrant has been set at $3 million.
"There is a warrant outstanding and in a very short period of time there will be charges filed against Mr. Jackson," Santa Barbara County Sheriff Jim Anderson told a news conference at which he and other officials declined to say if one or more children were involved. They did say, however, that they had "a cooperative victim."
Court TV, a cable channel, reported on Tuesday that allegations had been made against the self-styled King of Pop by a 12-year-old boy who had stayed at Jackson's fairy tale-like Neverland Ranch near Santa Barbara.
Jackson, who was in Las Vegas on Tuesday, has never previously been arrested. He was believed to be in the gambling mecca on Wednesday while his lawyers arranged terms of his surrender. Anderson said he had every reason to believe that the singer "is willing to cooperate with us."
Dozens of police officers with a search warrant spent more than 14 hours at Jackson's sprawling Neverland ranch in central California on Tuesday.
Investigators declined to give details of the case or to name the alleged victim. But they said their criminal investigation had been underway for two or three months, adding that they had a "cooperative victim in this situation."
Anderson told reporters that Jackson had been "given an opportunity to surrender himself to Santa Barbara authorities within a specific period of time."
In 1994, Jackson reached a multimillion-dollar out-of-court settlement with the family of a 14-year-old boy who accused him of sexual molestation. A criminal investigation of that case was closed without charges being brought once the alleged victim refused to testify. Jackson denied any wrongdoing.