A retired sheriff revealed yesterday that a second boy accused Michael Jackson of molesting him in 1993, and legal experts said that might bolster the new case against him.

“I would classify it as inappropriate touching,” former Santa Barbara, Calif., lawman Jim Thomas said. “In California, it would have been more of a misdemeanor than a felony.”

One set of 1993 kiddie-sex allegations against Jackson were already well known: A 13-year-old claimed he was abused on sleepovers at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, then refused to cooperate with authorities after collecting a $20 million payoff.

But cops investigating that case spoke to other kids with ties to Jackson, and found one who said he also was molested but was reluctant to testify.

“He was embarrassed and didn’t want his friends to find out,” Thomas said. As a result, when the original case against Jackson collapsed, the second boy’s allegations were not pursued.

It’s unclear whether the alleged victim would be willing to testify in the current case, or whether investigators are in contact with him.

But under California law, prosecutors can ask a judge to allow a jury to hear his story if Jackson goes on trial for more recently allegedly molesting a 12-year-old cancer survivor.

Corroboration is crucial to prosecutors’ case against Jackson because his young accuser’s credibility is under attack.

The boy appeared in a documentary praising Jackson, and his parents have troubled pasts. A jury might be more likely to believe his story if they heard similar accounts.

Jackson has accused the boy’s family of making up the charges to shake him down for millions. He admitted he has slept with children in his bed but denied there has been sexual contact.

Ernie Rizzo, a Chicago-area private eye who investigated Jackson for the family of the 13-year-old in 1993, said it has always been hard to find children who will speak out against Jackson.

“When I was working for the first kid, I was getting calls from mothers who were telling us Michael Jackson is a great guy,” Rizzo said. “I go interview these kids and I was finding 10- or 11-year-old kids who said, ‘Michael Jackson bathes with us; he plays ‘rubba rubba’ with us; we sleep in our underwear.’

“And then you would ask them if he did anything wrong . . . and the kid would get embarrassed and say, ‘Michael’s my friend.’ ”

He said the children’s parents, who had received lavish gifts from Jackson, defended him.

“If a truck driver did that to your kid, you’d kill him,” Rizzo said. “But Michael Jackson got away with it.”