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Witness Says Jackson Molested Him in 1990

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 April 2005, 09:00 CDT

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- A man who now mentors teens in an anti-truancy program says that he was fondled by Michael Jackson in three separate tickling incidents while they watched cartoons.

With his voice breaking frequently, the 24-year-old witness testified that over a span of several years, Jackson twice touched his clothes in the groin area at the singer's Los Angeles-area condominium and once reached under his clothes at Jackson's Neverland ranch.

"He was tickling me. I was wearing shorts again. ... He reached on my leg and I'm still laughing and he reached up to my - privates," the witness said Monday, describing the third alleged incident.

Prosecutors called the witness to the stand as they tried to show the jury that Jackson has a pattern of molesting boys. Testimony in the singer's child molestation trial was set to resume Tuesday.

The witness, who received a $2.4 million settlement from Jackson in 1994, said the alleged molestation happened while his mother was Jackson's personal maid. He also said he was between 7 and 10, and that Jackson gave him $100 after each of the first two incidents, but nothing following the third.

"We were tickling. He was tickling and I was laughing and the - it was, he was - he was tickling me in the... ," the witness said before asking the judge for a break. He wiped his eyes and drank some water.

At one point, the witness apologized to prosecutor Ron Zonen for his halting testimony and said, "This took a lot of counseling to get over, just to let you know."

The defense asked that the comment be struck from the record and Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville agreed.

The witness said he never talked about the incidents with anyone until 1993, when investigators came to him after another boy made allegations against Jackson in a civil case. The other boy also would later receive a settlement, reportedly in the multimillion-dollar range. No criminal charges were filed in either case.

The housekeeper's son, now married and working in an anti-truancy program, was asked at the outset of his testimony if he could identify Jackson in court.

"He's the light-complected gentleman," the witness said, smiling at Jackson.

The witness also described two earlier alleged incidents that involved Jackson touching him over his clothes at a Los Angeles-area condominium he and his mother referred to as Jackson's "hideaway."

"We were watching cartoons and he just started tickling me which was - cool," he said of the first incident.

"It eventually moved down to my little private region, I guess ... around my crotch area. You know, you're 7, you didn't think it was wrong. ... I probably did think it was weird but not super-weird because you were tickling," he said.

In another incident, he said, Jackson began tickling him as they were cuddling on top of a sleeping bag while watching cartoons. He described the tickling episode in the same way.

Asked who he first told, the witness said, "Probably God."

Jackson is on trial on charges of molesting a 13-year-old boy in February or March 2003, giving him wine and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to make a video rebutting a TV documentary in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bed, though he characterized it as non-sexual.

On cross-examination, Jackson attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. sought to show that the latest witness' mother had a financial interest in his story, asking if she had received $20,000 to appear on "Hard Copy" and had met with someone from The National Enquirer.

The witness said he learned of the payment just days ago, but saw the show when it aired. He said he was unaware of a meeting with the Enquirer.

The witness also acknowledged that in talking to police in 1993 about the alleged condominium incidents he had said that after the tickling started, "I had this blank-out, I can't remember anything else."

"I blocked it out. I didn't blank it out. I didn't want to ever talk about this stuff again," he said.

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AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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