- Pop star Michael Jackson is facing a fresh allegation
of child abuse, US police have said.
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- Detectives are investigating claims of child abuse dating
from the late 1980s made by an unidentified person.
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- A Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) spokesman said
its Child Protection Section was looking at the allegation.
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- Mr Jackson, 45, has pleaded innocent to separate charges
in Santa Barbara stemming from sex abuse accusations made by a young boy.
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- The BBC's Peter Bowes in Los Angeles says that no details
about the age or sex of the person making the latest allegations are being
revealed.
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- Nor is it known whether the new abuse claims are of a
sexual nature.
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- Police were asked by the Los Angeles district attorney's
office last month to investigate the new allegation, said LAPD spokesman
Jason Lee.
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- "The victim alleges the acts took place in the City
of Los Angeles in the late 1980s," said Mr Lee in a statement.
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- "The Department's Juvenile Division, Child Protection
Section, is currently investigating the allegations."
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- It is unclear whether allegations dating back to the
1980s could now result in criminal charges.
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- The singer's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said he had not
heard anything about the new allegation.
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- 'Baseless rumour'
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- "We have never been informed by the LAPD of any
investigation that they are conducting of Michael Jackson," he said.
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- "Since I have been involved in this case I have
addressed literally dozens of completely baseless rumours on a daily basis,
and this appears to be just another one of them."
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- Mr Jackson is already facing seven counts of lewd acts
on a child under the age of 14 and two counts of plying the boy with alcohol
in order to seduce him.
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- He has denied all the charges, which he has described
as a "big lie".
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3624259.stm
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