Yesterday should have marked a comeback of sorts for troubled pop superstar Michael Jackson, with the launch of a greatest-hits collection by Epic Records, including his well-reviewed new single, One More Chance, reports Conor O'Clery from New York
Instead 60-70 police and law enforcement officers descended on his Neverland Ranch in California, apparently looking for one more chance to nail the 45-year-old singer in a criminal investigation relating to a teenage boy.
Nine years ago Jackson avoided charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy by reaching an out-of-court settlement running to several million dollars.
Yesterday's raid, according to cable channel Court TV, stemmed from new allegations of sexual abuse brought by a 12-year-old boy.
A Santa Barbara police spokesman said sheriff's deputies and officials from the District Attorney's office went to the 2,600-acre ranch at 8.30 a.m. to "serve a search warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation". The Associated Press said Jackson was not at home, and his spokesman was not available for comment.
The raid comes after a year of controversies that has seen the tarnished star further embroiled in controversy and legal tangles.
In Junethe near-bankrupt singer settled a $12 million breach-of-contract lawsuit by his former financial adviser, avoiding a trial which could have exposed details of his personal life in court. In February Jackson described in a British television documentary how he made his three children wear masks in public. He also said he shared his bedroom with young boys at Neverland, a $12.3 million property in central California.
The ranch, which has a mansion, zoo, mini-railroad, bumper cars, merry-go-round and ferris wheel, is often opened up to disadvantaged children.
Four months earlier Jackson horrified onlookers when he dangled his new baby from a bedroom window in Berlin to show to fans in the street below.
The singer made his name worldwide with mega-hits such as Thriller in 1982 and Dangerous in 1991, but saw his career go into decline with the 1993 sex allegations to which he protested his innocence.
On November 26th CBS - which recently cancelled a controversial documentary on Ronald Reagan - is to broadcast a special programme on Jackson, who is perceived as an increasingly bizarre figure for his cosmetic surgery and weird behaviour.
The CBS decision prompted comedian David Letterman to comment last week: "Michael Jackson is doing a CBS special. CBS felt that a surgically altered freak was less controversial than the Reagans."