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Police raid Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-04 09:40
Police armed with a search warrant raided Michael Jackson's Neverland
Valley Ranch on Friday, looking for evidence in the child molestation case
against him, a Santa Barbara County Sheriff's spokesman said.
Santa Barbara County Senior Deputy District Attorney Gordon
Auchincloss pauses at the security building at Michael Jackson's Neverland
Ranch in Los Olivos, Calif., Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 during the execution of
a search warrant Friday morning.
[AP] |
Investigators served the search warrant on Neverland at about 9 a.m. local
time (noon EST) "as part of an ongoing criminal investigation," Sheriff's
spokesman Sgt. Chris Pappas said in a statement. He did not elaborate.
A spokeswoman for Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon said
only that the raid was "authorized by the court." Jackson is scheduled to stand
trial in January on charges that he molested a young boy at Neverland and
conspired to cover up his misdeeds.
The 46-year-old pop star's lead attorney, Thomas Mesereau, and a spokeswoman
declined to comment when reached by Reuters. Both are covered by a strict "gag"
order imposed by the judge in the sensational case.
It was not immediately clear whether the police raid would delay Jackson's
trial, which is scheduled to begin on Jan. 31. Defense lawyers have said that
they may need more time to prepare, in part because prosecutors have continued
to investigate the entertainer.
In November 2003, more than 60 sheriff's deputies raided Neverland, Jackson's
estate in the foothills above Santa Barbara, hunting for evidence that he had
molested a young boy and plied him with alcohol.
The evidence taken in that search has largely been kept under wraps by
Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville, who has imposed nearly unprecedented
secrecy in the case. Defense attorneys sought to suppress much of the evidence,
claiming during a pretrial hearing that authorities had exceeded the authority
of the search warrant.
The self-proclaimed "King of Pop" has pleaded innocent to a 10-count Santa
Barbara County grand jury indictment handed down in April and has vowed to prove
himself innocent in court.
In the mid-1990s, Jackson, whose "Thriller" is one of the best selling pop
albums of all time, reached an out-of court settlement with a boy who accused
him of sexual abuse. No criminal charges were brought in that case.
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