LAPD Probing New Jackson Allegation

Los Angeles police are investigating a new allegation against pop star Michael Jackson by an adult who claims to have been abused as a minor, a department spokeswoman said Tuesday.

“The victim alleges the acts took place in the city of Los Angeles in the late 1980s,” said Mary Grady, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Detectives with the child sexual abuse unit have been handling the inquiry, she said.

One source familiar with the investigation said that so far investigators had not determined that the accuser was with Jackson at any time. The man told investigators he had been abused at the Jackson family’s Encino home, according to the source.

Jackson was charged in Santa Barbara last year with committing lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under the age of 14 and administering an intoxicating agent to a child. He has pleaded not guilty, and a pretrial hearing is set for April 30.

Benjamin Brafman, one of Jackson’s attorneys, told Associated Press on Tuesday that he was unaware of the LAPD probe. “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 rumors on a daily basis, and this appears to be just another one of them.”

In 1993, Jackson paid more than $15 million to a Beverly Hills boy who had accused him of molestation and sued. No criminal charges were filed in the case.