A thief has stolen home movies of Michael Jackson playing with his children and is demanding a $100,000 ransom for the videos' return.

To make matters worse, the culprit has reportedly been trying to pawn the tapes off to American tabloid papers, according to Jackson spokesperson Howard Rubenstein.

The videos are of Jackson playing with his children, two-year-old Prince and one-year-old Paris. They were filmed at Jackson's Neverland Ranch near Santa Barbara, California last Christmas, and at Euro Disney outside of Paris last July; it was during Jackson's time in Paris that they were reportedly stolen, according to Reuters.

According to Rubenstein, Jackson did not immediately miss the videos and only realized that they were missing when his office got a call a few days ago seeking the ransom. A few days later, a tabloid paper called Jackson's office, saying that they had been offered the videos.

Jackson notified his attorneys of the theft, and they will

be filing a complaint with the appropriate authorities in Paris.

The performer's attorneys also issued the following statement: "Any photographs or videotape which might be offered to the media depicting Michael Jackson and/or his children over the holidays at Neverland Ranch or at Euro Disney are stolen and should not be published by any entity. Jackson is the sole and exclusive owner of the copyright in and to the stolen home videos and any stolen photographs made therefrom. Any entity which published any portion of the stolen videotapes or any photographs taken therefrom will be subject to an immediate action by our client for, among other claims, copyright infringement, violation of rights of privacy, misappropriation of rights of publicity, and conversion, in which Jackson will seek substantial damages, and all attorneys fees and costs incurred in pursuing any such action."

It hasn't been the best month for the singer; earlier this month, Jackson and Deborah Rowe

filed for divorce in a Los Angeles Superior Court, citing irreconcilable differences (see [article id="1430439"]"Michael Jackson And Wife Deborah File For Divorce"[/article]).