LOS OLIVOS, California (CNN) -- Investigators responding to allegations of child molestation, according to one source with knowledge of the investigation, searched pop star Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch Tuesday.
There was no official confirmation of what sparked the investigation or what the 20 officers from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's office were searching for or may have found.
"We cannot comment on law enforcement's investigation because we do not yet know what it is about," a spokesman for the entertainer said.
But a source with knowledge of the investigation said it involved allegations of child molestation -- nearly a decade after Jackson, now 45, settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who had done sleepovers at Neverland Ranch while he was still 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him.
No criminal charges were filed in that case.
Stuart Backerman, a spokesman for Jackson, said the singer has been in Las Vegas for the past 2 1/2 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.
Later this month, a special on Jackson is due to air on CBS.
According to Backerman's statement, Jackson himself 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."
Giraffes wander in their paddock at the Neverland Ranch.
The search warrant was served at 8:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. EST), said Chris Pappas, a spokesman for the sheriff's department. And investigators were still on the scene at 6 p.m. (9 p.m. EST), CNN's Frank Buckley reported.
Attorney Larry R. Feldman, who represented the alleged victim in the 1994 child molestation lawsuit against Jackson, told CNN Tuesday he would "not confirm or deny" that he is currently representing anyone in a civil or criminal investigation pertaining to Jackson because of possible "violation of attorney-client privilege."
Backerman attacked the "the malignant horde of media hounds claiming to speak for Michael on this and many other issues.
"A rogue's gallery of hucksters and self-styled 'inside sources' have dominated the airwaves since reports of a search of Neverland broke, speculating, guessing and fabricating information about an investigation they couldn't possibly know about," he said.
Backerman said Jackson will "cooperate fully with authorities in any investigation even as it is conducted, yet again, while he is not home."
Terms of the 1994 lawsuit settlement were confidential although the boy's attorney -- Feldman -- said at the time they were happy to resolve the matter and put it behind him.
Johnnie Cochran, Jackson's attorney in that case, said at the time that Jackson maintained his innocence and that settlement was in no way an admission of guilt.
Criminal investigators stopped pursuing their case after the lawsuit was settled and the young boy -- by then 14 -- made clear he did not want to participate in any prosecution of the singer.
CNN correspondents Frank Buckley and Charles Feldman and Producer Stan Wilson contributed to this report.
Just to add to this, the said on Larry King:
The Arrived at Neverland Ranch w/a Search and Arrest Warrant Today, which they have never had an arrest warrant on him. They said Michael Jackson is in Vegas right now, and they would not comment if they would go after him in vegas, but they said it would good if he turned himself into them.
There was no official confirmation of what sparked the investigation or what the 20 officers from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department and District Attorney's office were searching for or may have found.
"We cannot comment on law enforcement's investigation because we do not yet know what it is about," a spokesman for the entertainer said.
But a source with knowledge of the investigation said it involved allegations of child molestation -- nearly a decade after Jackson, now 45, settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a boy who had done sleepovers at Neverland Ranch while he was still 13 and accused Jackson of molesting him.
No criminal charges were filed in that case.
Stuart Backerman, a spokesman for Jackson, said the singer has been in Las Vegas for the past 2 1/2 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.
Later this month, a special on Jackson is due to air on CBS.
According to Backerman's statement, Jackson himself 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."
Giraffes wander in their paddock at the Neverland Ranch.
The search warrant was served at 8:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. EST), said Chris Pappas, a spokesman for the sheriff's department. And investigators were still on the scene at 6 p.m. (9 p.m. EST), CNN's Frank Buckley reported.
Attorney Larry R. Feldman, who represented the alleged victim in the 1994 child molestation lawsuit against Jackson, told CNN Tuesday he would "not confirm or deny" that he is currently representing anyone in a civil or criminal investigation pertaining to Jackson because of possible "violation of attorney-client privilege."
Backerman attacked the "the malignant horde of media hounds claiming to speak for Michael on this and many other issues.
"A rogue's gallery of hucksters and self-styled 'inside sources' have dominated the airwaves since reports of a search of Neverland broke, speculating, guessing and fabricating information about an investigation they couldn't possibly know about," he said.
Backerman said Jackson will "cooperate fully with authorities in any investigation even as it is conducted, yet again, while he is not home."
Terms of the 1994 lawsuit settlement were confidential although the boy's attorney -- Feldman -- said at the time they were happy to resolve the matter and put it behind him.
Johnnie Cochran, Jackson's attorney in that case, said at the time that Jackson maintained his innocence and that settlement was in no way an admission of guilt.
Criminal investigators stopped pursuing their case after the lawsuit was settled and the young boy -- by then 14 -- made clear he did not want to participate in any prosecution of the singer.
CNN correspondents Frank Buckley and Charles Feldman and Producer Stan Wilson contributed to this report.
Just to add to this, the said on Larry King:
The Arrived at Neverland Ranch w/a Search and Arrest Warrant Today, which they have never had an arrest warrant on him. They said Michael Jackson is in Vegas right now, and they would not comment if they would go after him in vegas, but they said it would good if he turned himself into them.
