Neverland raid linked to Jacko's sexual behavior

Chicago Sun-Times online ^ | 11-19-2003 | BILL ZWECKER

[buffyt]

A decade after Michael Jackson was the focus of unproven child molestation allegations, the pop superstar is again facing a similar, equally serious situation. Investigators from the Santa Barbara County, Calif., sheriff's office pounced on Jackson's famed Neverland Ranch at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday armed with a search warrant for what the authorities said was tied to ''an ongoing criminal investigation.''

Though the sheriff's office would comment no further, Court TV cited sources claiming the search was prompted by a complaint from a 13-year-old boy, charging criminal sexual conduct. A source told this column Tuesday that the child, accompanied by at least one parent, recently sought advice from a Los Angeles-based law firm. The boy's allegations about Jackson, 45, reportedly were described as ''inappropriate conduct insofar as any adult should behave toward a minor child.''

A Santa Barbara county district attorney's office spokesman declined comment except to confirm the issuance of the search warrant. The entertainer reportedly was in Las Vegas Tuesday working on a music video, accompanied by his children.

The raid on Neverland Ranch comes exactly one day after a former close Jackson associate went to prison. Anthony Pellicano has begun serving time in federal prison for possessing illegal explosives. He also has made headlines recently as allegations have come to light he is being investigated about whether he secretly taped conversations of celebrities -- including Jackson -- and their lawyers.

Pellicano reportedly was on Jackson's payroll while the singer was under investigation for those child molestation charges back in 1993. Throughout, Jackson maintained his innocence, and charges were never filed against him. He supposedly paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to the unnamed son of a Los Angeles dentist.

When Jackson surprised the world by marrying Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, some observers interpreted the wedding as a cynical public relations ploy to defuse the damage to Jackson's image from the molestation allegations.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Sunday, Pellicano vehemently denied stories that he was cooperating with federal authorities in the wiretap case to ensure a shortened sentence in his illegal explosives conviction.

A longtime Pellicano foe, North Shore-based private investigator and Court TV contributor Ernie Rizzo, explained the main reason for the Jackson raid Tuesday. According to Court TV and Rizzo's police sources, the sheriff's officials were searching for DNA evidence of at least one alleged sexual encounter between the entertainer and the boy in a bedroom at Neverland Ranch. The boy reportedly told authorities the evidence likely would be found on a bedspread.

The Jackson ranch is in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County and includes its own zoo, plus an amusement park, complete with bumper cars, a merry-go-round and Ferris wheel.

A Michael Jackson special has been scheduled to air on CBS next Wednesday. At press time it was unclear whether the network would air the program -- which mostly contained old Jackson concert footage -- as planned.

In a television documentary broadcast on ABC earlier this year, Jackson said he had slept in a bed with many children. ''When you say bed you're thinking sexual,'' the singer said. ''It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in. ... It's very charming, it's very sweet.''

The Neverland search came on the same day Epic Records released ''Number Ones,'' a greatest hits collection featuring Jackson's new single, ''One More Chance.''

Bill Zwecker is seen at 6:50 a.m. and 4:50 p.m. weekdays on WBBM-Channel 2 and reports on entertainment and celebrities at 9:10 a.m. Fridays on ''The Eric & Kathy Show'' on WTMX-FM (101.9).

[buffyt]

Ernie Rizzo on Fox News said of Michael Jackson case.... "The victim is always the child of a struggling single mother, and that is who M Jackson picks on. The kid in the 1993 case described MJ's private parts in minute detail and when the authorities took photos of MJ, the kid was exactly right down to the last detail. MJ has a kids' room full of Teddy Bears and Peter Pan stuff off of his bedroom. He tells parents the kid is sleeping in the kids' room, in the Peter Pan room, but the maids say that room is never used, sheets never slept on. Once the kid is in MJ's room, he keeps them there with him. He is the world's biggest pedophile. I've never seen anything like it, he flaunts it. He gets on TV and says "I like to sleep with little boys. And he keeps getting away with it. Ernie Rizzo investigator in the case in 1993 against MJ. And MJ had to pay that kid $20 million to silence him."

[buffyt]

ping

[buffyt]

I heard on TV that child molestors like to hang around where kids hang around, video game rooms, amusement parks, toy stores, candy stores.... what an easy way to attract victims, have your own amusement park....

Come on in.... I won't hurt you....
Said the spider to the fly.

[07055]

Anything new on the cancer angle?

I'm afraid MJ will be able to get the trial postponed until the poor kid dies.

[buffyt]

I heard the little boy is in remission. I HOPE that is true! IF there is DNA on a bedspread and the investigators got it, that would be good. Because sex with a little boy doesn't have to be rape to be a felony.

[buffyt]

A longtime Pellicano foe, North Shore-based private investigator and Court TV contributor Ernie Rizzo, explained the main reason for the Jackson raid Tuesday. According to Court TV and Rizzo's police sources, the sheriff's officials were searching for DNA evidence of at least one alleged sexual encounter between the entertainer and the boy in a bedroom at Neverland Ranch. The boy reportedly told authorities the evidence likely would be found on a bedspread.

[longtermmemmory]

That will not help. If the prosecutor was smart, which I serously doubt, he would have preserved the statement on video. He will also schedule a formal deposition as early as possible to preserve the child's testimony. If something happens, it will be played for the jury. The witness being dead is a permissible exception to the heresay rule.

[StillProud2BeFree]

What I don't understand is how any responsible parent would allow Michael Jackson to hang around their kids. Maybe I just don't understand the starstruck parents, but given all of the allegations regarding MJ, I wouldn't want any of my kids anywhere near him. I understand the concept of innocent until proven guilty by a court of law, but I don't need someone to have a guilty verdict before I don't let them around my kids. There are enough wierdos out there that you CAN'T identify as wierdos, and you can't put your kids in little cocoons and guarantee their safety by any means. But letting a young boy hang out of MJ sure does look like someone is just asking for trouble.

Someone needs to be asking why the parents allowed the kid to speak weekends with Michael. Just my opinion of course.

[longtermmemmory]

(S) Because we teach co-parents (not mothers and fathers) to be sheep and obey the leaders. Individualism and self thought is not to be rewarded. Big Brother Loves YOU!(/s)

[I still care]

Like the investigator says, "These are struggling single mothers". MJ gave this last kid a house. And there are plenty of people out there that don't believe any of this, or until this last dustup, they did.

Putting all that together, I imagine there is a large pool of kids for Jackson to victimize.

[Paulus Invictus]

Dots to be connected: Jackson to Pellicano to Livingston to Hitlery to the First Felon...Oh, I get it! It's the Klintoons yet again! Will the clintinoid perversions never stop?

[sunryse]

>Dots to be connected: Jackson to Pellicano to Livingston >to Hitlery to the First Felon...Oh, I get it! It's the >Klintoons yet again! Will the clintinoid perversions >never stop?

I'm going to start calling these criminal trails "Six degrees of Clinton"