Los Angeles, April 14 (Reuters): Police are investigating claims by an unidentified man that pop star Michael Jackson molested him in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, authorities said yesterday.

The probe comes as Jackson battles charges in central California that he molested a young boy seen in a controversial British television documentary, which was filmed partly at at his Neverland Valley Ranch in Santa Barbara County.

“They do have an investigation; that’s correct,” Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles county district attorney’s office, said. She declined to comment on specifics of the case, saying that the matter was still in the hands of police detectives.

Police, who confirmed that an investigation was in progress, declined comment on the details of the case.

But Los Angeles attorney Gregory Brenner, who has followed the Jackson case as a commentator, said police sources told him that the accusations came from an 18-year-old man, who claims he was victimised by Jackson while very young.

Attorney Mark Geragos, who is defending Jackson in the Santa Barbara case, said the latest allegations also are untrue. “It appears to be nothing more than part of an ongoing campaign to smear Michael with unfounded, scurrilous and ridiculous accusations, and we fully intend to find out who’s behind it and take appropriate actions,” Geragos said.