Memo: Jackson Cleared of Charge Earlier [Archive]

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DenverChief

12-09-2003, 03:19 PM

10 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Child welfare investigators earlier this year found there was no basis for allegations that Michael Jackson (news (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/celeb/*http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=%22Michael%20Jackson%22&c=&n=20&yn=c&c=news&cs=nw)) had abused the boy now accusing him of molestation, according to a confidential memo.

The memo from an administrator with the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services was based on an investigation last February and was leaked to the Web site thesmokinggun.com, which posted it Tuesday. A source familiar with the document confirmed its authenticity to The Associated Press

The memo was dated Nov. 26, 2003 — a week after the Santa Barbara County district attorney announced child molestation allegations against Jackson

Both the boy and his brother told investigators Jackson had not sexually abused them, according to the memo. Their older sister said she had never witnessed anything sexually inappropriate between her brothers and the entertainer

The memo was sent from a regional administrator to bureau chief Charles Sophy and detailed a probe completed before Sophy joined the agency.

Jackson's defense is certain to seize on the memo.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday.

The memo, which refers to Jackson as "the entertainer," said the department began a 13-day inquiry after a Los Angeles school district official called its hot line Feb. 14 out of concern for the boy and his brother.

The investigation was conducted with the Los Angeles police. The school official suspected neglect by the boy's mother and sexual abuse by Jackson, according to the memo.

But the department and the police concluded the allegations were "unfounded," the document said. Louise Grasmehr, a spokeswoman for the child welfare department, said the leak would probably be investigated because the memo was supposed to be confidential under state laws designed to protect children.

Police spokeswoman Officer Sandra Escalante had no comment. The school official called the hot line after the child, a cancer patient who had visited Jackson at his Neverland Ranch, appeared in a TV documentary in which the boy told an interviewer he had been a guest for sleepovers at Neverland.

In the documentary, Jackson defended his habit of letting children sleep in his bed as "sweet" and non-sexual. The boy's mother told investigators in February that "she believed the media had taken everything out of context," the memo said.

The mother said that the children were never left alone with Jackson and that her son slept in the same room with Jackson but never shared his bed. She said Jackson would sleep on the floor.

Separately, the mother contacted an attorney around the time the documentary aired, saying she thought her son had been abused. Jackson was booked Nov. 20 on suspicion of child molestation. He has denied the allegations and was released on $3 million bail. Authorities said they expect to file formal charges next week.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/fc?cid=34&tmpl=fc&in=Entertainment&cat=Michael_Jackson

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/dcfsmemo2.html

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 03:31 PM

DECEMBER 9--A confidential investigation by Los Angeles police and child welfare officials concluded earlier this year that allegations Michael Jackson sexually abused a cancer-stricken boy were "unfounded," according to an internal government memo obtained by The Smoking Gun.

The probe's findings were based, in large part, on interviews with the alleged victim, his two siblings, and the boy's mother. According to the memo, when the child was questioned in February by a social worker assigned to the Sensitive Case Unit of L.A.'s Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS), he "denied any form of sexual abuse" by Jackson and said that he never "slept in the same bed as the entertainer." While not specifically named in the DCFS memo, the 45-year-old Jackson is referred to repeatedly as "the entertainer."

The memo notes that the boy, now 14, and his 12-year-old brother--who also denied sexual abuse--expressed "a fondness for the entertainer and stated they enjoyed visiting his home, where they would often ride in the park, play video games, and watch movies." The pair's sister, now 17, told a social worker that she accompanied the boys on "sleepovers at the entertainers home," but had "never seen anything sexually inappropriate between her brothers and the entertainer."

The children's mother told investigators that Jackson was "like a father to the children and a part of her family." While acknowledging that her son "has slept in the same room as the entertainer," the woman claimed "they did not share a bed. The entertainer would sleep on the floor," according to the November 26 memo.

The joint probe by DCFS and the Los Angeles Police Department ran from February 14-27 and, the memo states, the "investigation by the Sensitive Case Unit concluded the allegations of neglect and sexual abuse to be unfounded both by the LAPD-Wilshire Division and the Department."

When an investigation is closed, child welfare officials can summarize their findings in one of three ways. If evidence is found to support abuse charges, the case is marked "substantiated." A case is termed "not substantiated" when evidence discovered is not sufficient to support allegations (though the charges may, in fact, be true). Finally, a matter is branded "unfounded" when officials determine there is no merit to the allegations.

As with many DCFS investigations, the Jackson abuse case began with a call to the agency's child abuse hotline. According to the memo, a "Child Abuse Referral" was phoned in on February 14 by a "school official" from the Los Angeles Unified School District, which oversees the city's sprawling public school system. Citing the prior week's ABC broadcast of "Living with Michael Jackson," the controversial Martin Bashir documentary, the school official lodged allegations of "general neglect by mother and sexual abuse by 'an entertainer,'" according to the summary memo. The school official identified both the cancer patient, then 13, and his younger brother as the "referred children."

While the school official is not further identified in the DCFS memo, published reports have indicated that the older boy was taunted by classmates after the documentary aired on ABC's "20/20" newsmagazine. During the February 6 program, the child was seen holding hands with Jackson and resting his head against the singer's shoulder. Jackson told Bashir that he had slept with many children unrelated to him, but insisted, "It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in...It's very charming, it's very sweet."

In a clear reference to fallout from the Bashir documentary, the boy's mother told investigators that "she believed the media had taken everything out of context," according to the memo, which summarizes the DCFS child abuse investigation. The "sensitive case" memo was prepared at the direction of Dr. Charles Sophy, a high-ranking DCFS official who joined the department in late-March, a month after the Jackson probe was completed. The memo was authored by Jennifer Hottenroth, a DCFS assistant regional administrator. In a brief telephone interview yesterday morning, Hottenroth declined to speak about her memo, saying, "I can't talk about it...I can refer you to our public affairs person. I can't comment on any of this." Sophy (pictured at right) did not return a message left with his assistant. Louise Grasmehr, a DCFS spokesperson, said that while she had been given a copy of the document by Hottenroth Monday morning, "We cannot comment on anything that is stated in the memo. Because it's all protected under confidentiality laws in California."

The boy's February 2003 interview with child abuse investigators--not to mention those with his family--appears to run counter to allegations he later made to law enforcement officials in Santa Barbara, where Jackson was arrested November 20 and released on $3 million bail. District Attorney Thomas Sneddon has said that he expects to file felony child molestation charges against Jackson next week. In addition to the boy's original denial of sexual abuse by Jackson, his younger brother's February 2003 statements also appear to contradict recent published reports claiming that the child has told Santa Barbara investigators that he witnessed his brother being molested by the star

While it is unclear what, if any, effect the LAPD-DCFS investigation will have on a future Jackson prosecution, the performer's defense team will surely seize on the February 2003 probe's findings to question the current veracity and motives of the child and his family--and, of course, further muddy a case that already promises to be a difficult prosecution.

The child abuse investigation was immediately placed with the Sensitive Case Unit since department guidelines dictate that if "one of the clients in the referral is a public figure" or if the case's allegations "would be certain to generate media interest if they became known outside of DCFS," the matter requires utmost secrecy.

As with most DCFS abuse cases, a children's social worker (CSW) was dispatched to interview the boys, as was a LAPD investigator (the memo does not indicate whether the cop and the social worker conducted their interviews in tandem). In either case, it is likely that the children were questioned apart from their mother, since the abuse referral included allegations of neglect on the woman's part, according to a DCFS source familiar with agency operations.

The allegations examined this year in the LAPD-DCFS probe mirror sex abuse claims that surfaced in 1993, when a 13-year-old California boy claimed that the pop star molested him. Jackson, who was not charged in that case, reportedly made a multimillion dollar payment to settle a civil suit brought by the child and his family. Click here to read (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/mjdec1.html) the boy's sworn declaration describing Jackson's alleged abuse.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/dcfsmemo1.html

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 03:47 PM

Citizens of California meet your next lawsuit

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 04:14 PM

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/images/crow.gif

If the shoe fits

Rausch

12-09-2003, 04:18 PM

http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/images/crow.gif

If the shoe fits

Yeah, right. This reads like BS to me....

But then, don't all kids refer to "friends" who just happen to be some of the most famous people on earth as "the entertainer?"

:meme smiley:

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 04:28 PM

Yeah, right. This reads like BS to me....

But then, don't all kids refer to "friends" who just happen to be some of the most famous people on earth as "the entertainer?"

:meme smiley:

A confidential investigation by Los Angeles police and child welfare officials concluded earlier this year that allegations Michael Jackson sexually abused a cancer-stricken boy were "unfounded," according to an internal government memo obtained by The Smoking Gun

Finally, a matter is branded "unfounded" when officials determine there is no merit to the allegations.

The child abuse investigation was immediately placed with the Sensitive Case Unit since department guidelines dictate that if "one of the clients in the referral is a public figure" or if the case's allegations "would be certain to generate media interest if they became known outside of DCFS," the matter requires utmost secrecy.

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 04:30 PM

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art3/dcfsmemo2.gif

Rausch

12-09-2003, 04:33 PM

"child welfare officials"

I trust these people as far as I can throw them. If they're even half as good as the one's here in Jeff, which I doubt, I'm not impressed in the least.

I know for a fact of two cases here, in a small town:

A)Family services visited the home and decided the family was fit to take care of their 5 children. 4 of which where later found to me sexually molested and the father sent away for 10 years.

B) Family services inspected the home of a couple, found crack pipes, and decided that drug use was not not enough evidence to remove the children from the home.

But I'm sure in a smaller town like LA they're more effecient in their searches and evaluations.....
:shake:

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 04:41 PM

Rausch

12-09-2003, 04:44 PM

2 examples does not a rule make....I'm sure those people lost thier jobs and in such a nice neighborhood like the Wilshire neighborhood I bet they get all the good stuff unlike a crappy little missouri town :p

I bet they do....

BIG_DADDY

12-09-2003, 04:53 PM

I didn't realize that DC was such a huge MJ fan.

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 05:02 PM

I didn't realize that DC was such a huge MJ fan.

You know better than that, I'm more for the police not abusing thier powers....just arresting people becasue....

Rausch

12-09-2003, 05:04 PM

You know better than that, I'm more for the police not abusing thier powers....just arresting people becasue....

Good. You won't mind letting your kids stop by my place for a sleep over then.

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 05:06 PM

Good. You won't mind letting your kids stop by my place for a sleep over then.

:spock: are you saying you have the money and fame Jackson does?

Rausch

12-09-2003, 05:07 PM

:spock: are you saying you have the money and fame Jackson does?

Why?

Does that make it ok to **** your kids?

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 05:36 PM

Why?

Does that make it ok to **** your kids?

Why are you being so dense dude, get a grip

Captain Kangaroo inviting you and your children to his 100 acre ranch to go to a private amusement park is not the same as some 20 something guy inviting kids over to his 4th floor apartment on the lower east side of Jefferson city missouri

Brock

12-09-2003, 05:42 PM

"Rubba-rubba".

Rausch

12-09-2003, 05:47 PM

Why are you being so dense dude, get a grip

Captain Kangaroo inviting you and your children to his 100 acre ranch to go to a private amusement park is not the same as some 20 something guy inviting kids over to his 4th floor apartment on the lower east side of Jefferson city missouri

Really?

So it's much more acceptable to send your kids off to stay the night with a freak of nature who's had more plastic surgery than an operation board game, owns the remains to the Elephant man, and has been abused by his father, than say, some chiefs fan you yack at on a bb who owns a camp ground?

Really?

So what you're saying is if I owned, say a camp ground, you'd send you kids off to stay with MJ first?

And as an aside: is there ANYONE you'd let sleep IN THE SAME BED with your kids?

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 05:48 PM

Really?

So it's much more acceptable to send your kids off to stay the night with a freak of nature who's had more plastic surgery than an operation board game, owns the remains to the Elephant man, and has been abused by his father, than say, some chiefs fan you yack at on a bb who owns a camp ground?

Really?

So what you're saying is if I owned, say a camp ground, you'd send you kids off to stay with MJ first?

And as an aside: is there ANYONE you'd let sleep IN THE SAME BED with your kids?The mother said that the children were never left alone with Jackson and that her son slept in the same room with Jackson but never shared his bed. She said Jackson would sleep on the floor.

Brock

12-09-2003, 05:51 PM

In the documentary, Jackson defended his habit of letting children sleep in his bed as "sweet" and non-sexual.

Rausch

12-09-2003, 05:53 PM

Thank you.....

Ecto-I

12-09-2003, 06:07 PM

Hmm...very good points DC.

Bwana

12-09-2003, 06:20 PM

:spock:

DanT

12-09-2003, 06:21 PM

I didn't pay much attention to this story, but I did notice the unprofessional behavior of the Santa Barbara DA, especially the comment quoted below:

On Wednesday, Sneddon maintained a grin for most of the press conference and even made some jokes, such as when asked if the timing of the charges was connected to Tuesday's release of Jackson's Number Ones hits album. "Like the sheriff and I are really into that kind of music," Sneddon said.

The link for the above quote contains a background story describing the long history between Michael Jackson and the DA:
http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1480542/20031120/jackson_michael.jhtml?headlines=true

That's a helluva thing, the DA cracking wise, like arresting people is some kind of public entertainment. It's easy to see why those SoCal law enforcers enjoy so little regard in the public at large, despite the attempts of a steady stream of movies and television series like T.J. Hooker (starring priceline.com's William Shatner) trying to give them an air of gravitas and dignity.

Rausch

12-09-2003, 06:26 PM

It's easy to see why those SoCal law enforcers enjoy so little regard in the public at large

You lost me...

How do moronic comments by a DA in any way reflect on Law enforcement?....

:hmmm:

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 06:28 PM

You lost me...

How do moronic comments by a DA in any way reflect on Law enforcement?....

:hmmm:

just like moronic comments by the president reflect upon the nation

Rausch

12-09-2003, 06:35 PM

just like moronic comments by the president reflect upon the nation

No, they don't.

Where Clinton puts his pee-pee doesn't have any effect on where I put mine....

Brock

12-09-2003, 06:36 PM

It's easy to see why those SoCal law enforcers enjoy so little regard in the public at large, despite the attempts of a steady stream of movies and television series like T.J. Hooker (starring priceline.com's William Shatner) trying to give them an air of gravitas and dignity.

I think maybe letting a famous murderer go free might also have something to do with that.

DanT

12-09-2003, 06:47 PM

You lost me...

How do moronic comments by a DA in any way reflect on Law enforcement?....

:hmmm:

The particular comment I quoted begins with "Like the Sheriff and I listen to...". One expects there to be a close relationship between the two major components of law enforcement--the police and the prosecutorial functions. This guy's particular comment reflects that. By the way, it also shows that he's unreluctant to speak for the sheriff's personal preferences in music, which have not a gawddamn thing to do with the case.

In more general terms, though, apart from this particular comment, the law enforcement community in SoCal gives off the impression that a bunch of the folks within it don't take their professional obligations as seriously as they should. That's the impression I've gotten, at least. They have had a string of high profile incidents where they either failed to get what should have been easy convictions or where their own cops were involved in grossly unprofessional behavior (e.g. the Ramparts case).

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 08:40 PM

No, they don't.

Where Clinton puts his pee-pee doesn't have any effect on where I put mine....

first you were on comments now you are on actions...

Logical

12-09-2003, 09:06 PM

You know better than that, I'm more for the police not abusing thier powers....just arresting people becasue....

So you have more proof that they do not have other evidence? Is that what you are telling us. If not it would seem you are presuming they are guilty of abusing their power with insufficient cause. Child Services and the Police are entirely separate organizations you know.

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 10:02 PM

So you have more proof that they do not have other evidence? Is that what you are telling us. If not it would seem you are presuming they are guilty of abusing their power with insufficient cause. Child Services and the Police are entirely separate organizations you know.

Other evidence? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? all 3 of the kids made a statement to both the police and social services than nothing happened now all the sudden something did...this is even worse than the Kobe case and you won't even admit to yourself that it is possible the parents are out for a big payday becasue Jackson doesn't play basketball for the Lakers

A confidential investigation by Los Angeles police and child welfare officials concluded earlier this year that allegations Michael Jackson sexually abused a cancer-stricken boy were "unfounded," according to an internal government memo obtained by The Smoking Gun

WilliamTheIrish

12-09-2003, 10:21 PM

tommykat

12-09-2003, 10:24 PM

HUH..............without reading what is up? Is this true?

tommykat

12-09-2003, 10:26 PM

Is this true? Not going to look back......what was the source?

tommykat

12-09-2003, 10:27 PM

Is this true? Not going to look back......what was the source?

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 10:28 PM

Jeff City has a lower east side?

ROFL

DenverChief

12-09-2003, 10:29 PM

Is this true? Not going to look back......what was the source?

Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

tommykat

12-09-2003, 10:34 PM

Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

Link? Sorry I have not heard this

tommykat

12-09-2003, 10:37 PM

Link? Sorry I have not heard this

Sorry never mind.....just saw the links....

DenverChief

04-09-2005, 05:02 PM

I wonder what ever happend with this?

Brock

04-09-2005, 05:02 PM

I wish they'd stop persecuting him for his lifestyle choices.