Authorities in Santa Barbara, California, were awaiting the arrival of Michael Jackson in the seaside community,swheresan arrest warrant alleging multiple counts of child molestation awaited the pop superstar.

　　Jackson's spokesman on Wednesday called the allegations "scurrilous and totally unfounded."Investigators began waiting for the singer at Santa Barbara's small airport on Wednesday, along with a throng of media, but he did not appear. Jackson had left Las Vegas in his private jet on Wednesday, but his whereabouts were unknown, according to newspaper reports.

　　He was expected to surrender to authorities as soon as yesterday, and law enforcement officials said charges would be filed.

　　"Get over here and get checked in," District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr advised the King of Pop at a news conference broadcast worldwide. Jackson was directed to give up his passport, and his arrest warrant set bail at US million, authorities said.

　　Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said Jackson had arranged to travel to Santa Barbara "to confront and prove these charges unfounded."

　　The 45-year-old singer was in Las Vegas when dozens of law enforcement agents swarmed his Neverland Ranch compound on Tuesday to serve a search warrant.

　　Jackson left Las Vegas in his private jet on Wednesday, according to reports in yesterday's editions of the Los Angeles Times and Santa Barbara News-Press. He was escorted by Santa Barbara County sheriff's deputies to his own jet and flew from a private terminal at the McCarran International Airport, according to an airport security guard the Times did not name.Jackson is charged by the state with lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14, punishable by three to eight years in prison, law enforcement officials said.