Case Against Michael Jackson Nears End
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Prosecutors moved toward the end of their child molestation and conspiracy case against Michael Jackson on Monday by introducing evidence intended to document activities and communications among associates who have been named as unindicted co-conspirators.
Beverly Wagner, a bank branch manager, testified that in early 2003 one of those associates, Marc Schaffel, cashed two checks totaling $1.5 million from an account belonging to Neverland Valley Entertainment, for which Jackson and Schaffel were the only signatories.
She said Schaffel first came in to cash a check for $1 million dated April 2, 2003, and a week later came in to cash a check for $500,000.
Schaffel’s name has surfaced repeatedly in the trial in connection with efforts to contain damage from the documentary “Living With Michael Jackson,” in which Jackson appeared with the boy who now is accusing him of molestation. Jackson said in the documentary that he let children sleep in his bed but it was non-sexual.
Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 2003, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the accuser’s family captive to get them to rebut the documentary, which aired in the United States on Feb. 6 of that year.
Prosecutors also called sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Bonner to present records designed to show contact between the parties.
The records showed several calls between phone numbers for Jackson associates and also between numbers of Jackson associates and the home of a man who at the time was the boyfriend of the accuser’s mother.
For some of the time that her children were allegedly being held captive, the mother was staying at the home of the man, who is now her husband. The records indicated there were nine calls between the phone number of Jackson employee Frank Cascio, also known as Frank Tyson, and Schaffel. There were also three calls between Cascio and another Jackson employee.
The witnesses were presented as the prosecution nears the end of its side of the case. District Attorney Tom Sneddon said last week the prosecution would rest on Tuesday.
After the prosecution rests, the defense was expected to ask Judge Rodney S. Melville to dismiss the entire case for insufficient evidence. They will argue that the testimony so far has failed to substantiate the charges. Such motions rarely succeed.
On Friday, prosecutors presented two books found in Jackson’s home that included pictures of nude boys.
Los Angeles police Detective Rosibel Smith, who found the books in a locked filing cabinet in Jackson’s master bedroom during a 1993 search, testified that both books featured boys “playing, swimming, jumping.”
One book included an inscription written by Jackson: “Look at the true spirit of happiness and joy in these boys’ faces, this is the spirit of boyhood, a life I’ve never had and will always dream of. This is the life I want for my children.”
The books were seized during a molestation investigation involving a boy who received a multimillion-dollar settlement from Jackson in 1994. The investigation never led to criminal charges against Jackson.