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Jackson reportedly paid second boy in '93
By DAWN HOBBS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
New information has surfaced that Michael Jackson paid more than
$2 million to the son of a maid at Neverland Valley Ranch.
The boy's accusations of inappropriate touching came up in 1993
while law enforcement officers were investigating the child molestation
allegations of another boy, according to sources close to the case.
The 1993 molestation investigation fell apart, and no charges were
filed. The boy at the center of the case, who was then 13 years
old, refused to testify before a grand jury after Mr. Jackson settled
a simultaneous civil suit with his family for $20 million.
When the boy refused to cooperate, the maid's son, who was 12 years
old at the time, reportedly balked at testifying because he didn't
want to go it alone, the sources told the News-Press.
News of the $2 million payment first surfaced on "Dateline
NBC" in a segment airing tonight. The TV show did not disclose
its source.
The News-Press independently confirmed through a source on Thursday
that the payment was made to the maid's son, but the source did
not specify the reason for the payment.
Investigators planned to use this boy's testimony in an attempt
to corroborate the other accuser's statements. The boy's mother
stated in a deposition obtained by the News-Press that she had frequently
seen boys in Mr. Jackson's bedroom area.
Mr. Jackson has pleaded not guilty to charges of child molestation
and conspiracy filed this year in a different case. He is scheduled
to go to trial in January. Defense lawyers declined comment on the
new information about the earlier case, citing a gag order.
In the deposition from the 1993 case, the mother stated that she
became concerned when she found her own son lying next to Mr. Jackson
on a sleeping bag in a darkened room. "I got nervous, I told
my son to come out, that he needed to eat," the mother said,
adding that she found $300 stuffed in her son's pocket. She quit
working for Mr. Jackson soon after.
Former Sheriff Jim Thomas, an NBC news analyst who appears in the
"Dateline" piece, oversaw the investigation a decade ago
when the second boy surfaced.
"We got information in 1993 that we might want to talk with
this boy," Mr. Thomas told the News-Press. "With great
reluctance, he told us about the inappropriate touching... which
consisted of touching him on the outside of his clothing. It was
over a period of time in 1990 until his mother found out.
"He would have been a corroborating witness to the other case....
My understanding was that he did not want to testify alone. Also,
he was quite a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. He didn't want
his friends to think bad things about him, and so he chose to pull
out."
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