Michael Jackson's surrender has media swarming

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A British tabloid dubbed it "The Day of the Jacko," while a journalism expert proclaimed it the ultimate celebrity news story: a tale of sex, pop music and plastic surgery.

As music star Michael Jackson surrendered to authorities, was booked on suspicion of child molestation and then posted $3 million bail to go free yesterday, an international swarm of news gatherers descended on him.

His attorney, Mark Geragos, said Jackson called the accusations — which reportedly involve a 12-year-old boy he met while the boy was undergoing cancer treatment — "a big lie."

At the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, more than 100 reporters and photographers threw hips and elbows into their colleagues to gain a glimpse of Jackson in handcuffs. Miles away, outside the gates of Jackson's Neverland Ranch, idling TV trucks stretched down a winding country road as correspondents beamed reports around the globe.

For more than two hours, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC and Court TV covered nothing but the pop star. Over and over, the networks repeated what Fox News' Trace Gallagher called the money shot — Jackson walking into the sheriff's office in handcuffs — after news helicopters trailed airplanes and vehicles in a frantic attempt to spot the singer.

ABC, CBS and NBC broke into programming for brief special reports.

Hours after Jackson made bail, camera crews and news helicopters bird-dogged the star's black sport-utility vehicle as it motored down the Las Vegas Strip.

The purpose of it all, reporters said, was to satisfy the public's curiosity concerning one of the world's best-known celebrities.

"Michael Jackson is something even every grandmother knows, he's such a huge star," said Eri Moriyama, a Los Angeles-based correspondent for Japan's NTV.

"This is Laci Peterson and shark attacks and Kobe Bryant put together," said Martin Kaplan, professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications. "It's a miraculous combination of sex and taboos and pop music and plastic surgery.

"All that's missing is the white Bronco," Kaplan added, referring to the slow-speed police chase of O.J. Simpson a decade ago.

The frenzy surrounding Jackson's booking was heightened when a veteran cameraman for a Santa Barbara television station collapsed and died while waiting for Jackson to appear. Colleagues identified him as Bill Skiba, 43, a longtime employee of KEYT-TV Channel 3. The cause of death was not immediately determined.

Authorities would say almost nothing about the case against Jackson, even declining to specify how many charges he faced. No criminal indictment has been filed against the singer, though Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon Jr. promised that formal charges detailing multiple counts of child molestation would be presented soon.

The specific statute Jackson is accused of violating describes molestation as "arousing, appealing to or gratifying the lust, passions or sexual desires of (the accused) or the child." Each count carries a minimum sentence of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison.

Sneddon has declined to describe the circumstances of the alleged molestation or to say whether the multiple counts involve one child or more.

The Sheriff's Office did release a copy of a booking photograph, in which Jackson's sunken cheeks and surgically enhanced features were accentuated by makeup and lipstick. His thick, black, shoulder-length hair hung over and partly obscured his right eye.

Jackson, 45, is listed on the booking sheet as 5-foot-11 and weighing 120 pounds.

Search of ranch

The singer had been making a music video in Las Vegas when Santa Barbara officials issued a search warrant Tuesday, with 70 officers conducting an extensive search of his 2,600-acre Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County. They also issued an arrest warrant Tuesday but did not disclose that until the next day.

He went to Santa Barbara voluntarily yesterday, arriving at Santa Barbara Municipal Airport in a leased jet that taxied to a hangar under intense media scrutiny. The jet pulled partially into the hangar, allowing Jackson to emerge and enter a car without being seen. He was then driven to the county jail.

The booking procedure lasted about 45 minutes.

After leaving the Sheriff's Office, Jackson, who has three children, flew back to Las Vegas, where what appeared to be three children covered by blankets were carried aboard the plane by assistants. They were then carried off, and Jackson exited the plane as well. Groups of people on roadsides waved at his passing motorcade and some ran up to the car at stops.

In a scene reminiscent of the Simpson chase, television helicopters followed the motorcade's roundabout, two-hour, 30-mile route to the Green Valley Ranch hotel-casino in Henderson, where Jackson has been staying.

Throughout the day, as Santa Barbara residents watched the unfolding saga on television, a few dozen local spectators, mostly high-school and college students, joined the media crowd at the compound housing the Sheriff's Office and jail. Two University of California, Santa Barbara, students held a cardboard sign saying, "Moonwalk 2 Jail," a reference to Jackson's signature dance step.

"It's really the biggest news event of the year, other than the war," said Jared Lyons, 18, a student from nearby San Marcos High School, who came with two friends after watching the media scrum on television in class.

Pop star for years

A child star alongside his siblings in the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson soared into the pop world's stratosphere in the 1980s with a series of critically acclaimed hit records that included "Thriller," one of the best-selling albums of all time. Although he released a new greatest-hits package Wednesday, his career has been in decline for years, a victim of changing tastes and a series of lurid stories about his personal life.

These included allegations in 1993 that he had molested a 13-year-old boy. Although no criminal charges were brought and Jackson insisted he was innocent, he eventually settled a lawsuit brought by the alleged victim for a sum reported to be at least $15 million, although it has never been publicly released.

In 1993 and 1994, officials in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, including Sneddon, conducted a criminal investigation arising from the 13-year-old's allegations. The Los Angeles County district attorney at the time said he could not proceed with a criminal case because Jackson's accuser declined to cooperate.

In the current case, Sneddon said he has a cooperative witness who is not suing Jackson.

Michael Dean, deputy director of Santa Barbara County Social Services, declined to comment on whether there were plans to take Jackson's children into protective custody, citing confidentiality rules.

Accusations by 12-year-old

A lawyer for the Jackson family has said the most recent case stems from a 12-year-old's allegations of molestation during visits to Jackson's Neverland Ranch. According to two sources, including a close friend of the boy's family, the boy has said Jackson served him wine and molested him several times last winter.

Among those jumping to Jackson's defense yesterday was his brother Jermaine, who charged in an interview with CNN that the accusations amount to "nothing but a modern-day lynching."

"The whole family supports Michael 100 percent, 1,000 percent," he said, adding that "Michael is in very strong spirits because he is innocent."

"My brother is not eccentric," Jermaine Jackson insisted. "We had an incredible, wonderful childhood."

Geragos, in a telephone interview, said Michael Jackson was eager to face his accuser. An arraignment was scheduled for Jan. 9 in Santa Barbara Superior Court. "I spent quite a bit of time with him, and I can tell you he is strong and resolute and determined to fight what he considers to be absolutely scurrilous allegations," said the lawyer, who also represents Scott Peterson of Modesto, Calif., who is accused of killing his pregnant wife and unborn son.

The alleged victim has not been identified. However, Los Angeles criminal-defense attorney H. Russell Halpern said he has had discussions with the boy's father, who lost custody after being accused of physically abusing two of his three children. He pleaded no contest in 2002 to a single count of domestic violence. Halpern said his client does not have any information about whether Jackson committed the crimes that have been alleged.

He said the father told him Jackson met his son while the boy was being treated for cancer at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Jackson was visiting children and "became particularly interested in my client's son," the lawyer said.

"My client thinks he's a good guy and he was very proud of their friendship," Halpern said. He said the father believes, however, that the boy's mother exercised poor judgment by allowing the child to stay overnight at Jackson's home.

In recent years, Jackson has acknowledged staging sleepovers with his young Neverland guests, saying the children sometimes shared his bed.

Material from The Washington Post and The Associated Press is included in this report.