The FBI assisted local authorities in a futile attempt to get cooperation in a 2005 child molestation case against Michael Jackson from a boy who accused the pop star of molesting him in 1993, documents show.
The documents released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the Freedom of Information Act also reveal that Santa Barbara police had concerns about a possible terrorist attack related to the 2003 arrest of Jackson, which led to a request for FBI assistance. The FBI concluded there was no threat.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the 1993 case. Instead the then 12-year-old boy refused to cooperate with officials and accepted a multi-million dollar settlement from Jackson. Jackson was acquitted of all charges in the 2005 case, which went to trial.
The documents show that the FBI and Santa Barbara officials met in 2004 with Jackson’s 1993 accuser, but were unsuccessful in getting his cooperation.
The heavily redacted FBI documents do not reveal the name of the boy that officials met with. “Victim indicates that he has no interest in testifying against Jackson,” according to the documents, “and would legally fight any attempt to do so”.
Prior to the FBI’s interview with the accuser, the documents show that the FBI helped Santa Barbara prosecutors with “interview strategies for a victim who alleged that Michael Jackson had abused him in 1993″.
The documents also quote the boy as saying that he “believed that he had done his part”, presumably referring to his initial involvement with law enforcement before agreeing to a civil settlement with Jackson that is believed to be $20 million.
During the 2005 trial it was known that the FBI’s behavioural and forensics units had consulted on the case, but the file released Tuesday reveals that various arms of the FBI assisted the Santa Barbara district attorney’s office.
The FBI examined Jackson’s motor vehicle records to see if he “transported a minor across state lines for immoral purposes”. The agency went to London and Manila to investigate other accusations that Jackson had engaged in improper behaviour with boys.
The agency also investigated another allegation from a woman and her husband who worked in child services in Toronto, Canada.
The couple had taken the same train as Jackson from Chicago to the Grand Canyon and said Jackson had a minor boy with him whom he identified as a “cousin”. The couple reported that Jackson was possessive of the boy and that they heard questionable noises. The woman was concerned enough to notify a conductor.
Before the 2005 trial, the FBI and District Attorney also met to discuss “the collection of sexually explicit images in magazine and books” and a VHS videotape that the FBI analysed as part of a child pornography investigation.
Also within the documents is a lot of material pertaining to threats made by Frank Paul Jones, who was convicted in 1993 of stalking Janet Jackson and threatening to commit mass murder at a Michael Jackson concert.
Jones copied the FBI and the late mob boss John Gotti on the letter. He also threatened to kill President George H.W. Bush.
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