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Ex-Jackson producer's Calabasas home raided
By HILDY MEDINA
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
CALABASAS — Santa Barbara County Sheriff's investigators
searched the Los Angeles County home of one of Michael Jackson's
former music producers on Saturday, but they didn't detail how the
raid plays into the current child molestation case against the pop
star.
Local investigators searched the Calabasas residence of F. Marc
Schaffel, confirmed Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy John Caffrey.
Two years ago, Mr. Schaffel executive-produced Mr. Jackson's star-studded
benefit single "What More Can I Give," a September 11
song that became a too-hot property when the producer's ties to
the gay pornography industry surfaced. The singer's advisers reportedly
asked Sony Music to drop the single after that disclosure.
The music company was also reportedly asked to abandon the single
after advisers found out that Mr. Jackson had asked Mr. Schaffel
to produce it and that he had signed over the song's rights to Mr.
Schaffel.
Mr. Schaffel also produced a video of outtakes from a documentary
— Mr. Jackson's "home movies" special — made shortly
after the controversial Martin Bashir special, "Living with
Michael Jackson," to give Mr. Jackson's side of the story.
This is the second time associates of Mr. Jackson have had their
homes searched because of their ties to the singer in his current
child molestation case. The day the singer's Neverland Valley Ranch
was raided in November, Santa Barbara County authorities also raided
the West Hills home of a videographer on the Jackson TV special
and the Los Angeles offices of a film company.
Saturday, Santa Barbara County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Chris Pappas
declined to say whether a search warrant was executed, citing Santa
Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville's gag order
prohibiting all parties involved in Mr. Jackson's case from commenting.
The Web site for the television magazine "Entertainment Tonight"
said Mr. Schaffel was not home during the raid, but his attorney
was. A helicopter for "ET" hovered above the home while
the investigators were present, and reportedly saw items being taken
from the home and loaded into an official vehicle.
Deputy Caffrey said L.A. County authorities did not take part in
the search but were notified because Mr. Schaffel's home is in Los
Angeles County. He said the search took place between 3 and 4 p.m.
Mr. Jackson has pleaded innocent to seven counts of lewd or lascivious
acts with a child under 14 and two counts of giving the child an
intoxicating agent, reportedly wine. He is free on $3 million bail
pending trial.
The producer, whose phone number is not listed, couldn't immediately
be reached for comment.
He and Mr. Jackson reportedly met four years ago at a fund-raising
event. Mr. Schaffel's name appears as producer and director on several
dozen gay videos, a fact that reportedly led others in Mr. Jackson's
camp to try and put some distance between the men. Mr. Jackson apparently
resisted, bringing Mr. Schaffel on for two big TV specials last
year, including the rebuttal to Mr. Bashir.
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