Last of the sleepovers: Case vs. Wacko building for years

Michael Jackson's sick fantasy life as a 45-year-old kid who somehow thinks it's okay to share his bed with preteen boys may finally be nearing an end.

The 12-year-old cancer patient at the heart of last week's child molestation accusations is only the latest in a long string of vulneable youngsters who - along with their unsuspecting, uncaring or greedy parents - may have been abused by the Peter Pan wanna-be.

The self-styled King of Pop's sister La Toya once said her brother has been abusing children since 1981.

"I have slept in bed with many children," Jackson proudly crowed during a TV special this year. "Why can't you share your bed? The most loving thing you can do is share your bed with someone."

Jackson continued, "It's not sexual, we're going to sleep. I tuck them in, it's very charming, it's very sweet. ...It's what the whole world should do."

Suspicion and circumstantial evidence have been building for more than a decade that Jackson - twice married, twice divorced - is a serial pedophile, a practitioner of what psychiatric experts call "infantile sexuality."

Untold dozens of young boys have visited his amusement park home, the 2,600-acre Neverland Ranch, north of Santa Barbara, Calif.

Actor Macaulay Culkin, Beatles offspring Sean Lennon and sitcom star Emmanuel Lewis are among those who stayed there when they were in their preteens.

Lewis' mother seemed fine with Jackson's growing obsession with her 12-year-old son until 1985, when they registered at a Beverly Hills hotel as father and son.

John Lennon's son began hanging out with Jackson four years after his father's murder, when he was 9. Yoko Ono let Sean spend time with Jackson at Broadway shows, in his hotel suite and finally at the California estate.

British newspapers have reported that a Jackson in-law once saw Michael and Sean in bed together.

Culkin was known to frolic at Neverland for days at a time. They would play video games for hours and engage in physical play and water pistol fights.

A criminal investigation in 1993-1994 got as far as two grand juries being convened, but prosecutors closed up shop several months after the 13-year-old accuser settled a civil suit for as much as $24 million.

The boy said he was upset that the criminal investigation had dragged on for so long and decided he wanted to get on with his life.

Disappointed prosecutors let it be known they'd uncovered two other boys who said they had been molested by Jackson, but neither was willing to testify.

One of the boys left the country and was therefore out of the court's jurisdiction.

The other, who said Jackson had molested him three times, started therapy; on advice of the boy's counselor and his lawyer, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon decided not to pursue the matter.

Shortly after, five former security guards sued Jackson, contending they were fired because they knew too much about Jackson's sexual activities.

The guards said they saw boys between 9 and 14 enter Jackson's estate at night and not emerge until morning.

In "Michael Jackson Unauthorized," author Christopher Andersen wrote that starting in 1991, guards at the front gate were ordered not to look in the backseat of Jackson's car when it entered Neverland. One night, when a guard looked in, he saw a boy hiding near the floor.

Former housekeeper Mark Quindoy kept a diary, later given to authorities, of what he said were incidents of Jackson fondling his "special friends."

"I swear I saw Michael Jackson fondling the little kid, his hands traveling on the kid's thighs, legs, around his body. And during all this, the kid was playing with his toys," Quindoy said at a news conference in late 1993.

Andersen also wrote that the mother of one male visitor lived for a time in a cottage on the Neverland grounds and was not allowed near the main house. Her son, 7, slept each night with Jackson in his bed, Andersen wrote.

Money has been at the center of Jackson's troubles, and his efforts to minimize them.

The security guards say they cooperated with the district attorney's investigation and filed suit only when it became clear that charges would not be lodged against the superstar. Jackson's people accused them of being money-hungry thugs.

Quindoy and his wife came forward after Jackson refused to pay them $283,000 they said were owed them in back wages. The Jackson camp called them disgruntled former employees and failed extortionists.

Before the 13-year-old's family settled that civil suit, Jackson's representatives repeatedly accused the boy's father of trying to extort money.

But the criminal probe began when the boy confided to a therapist, who relayed the allegation to authorities. The civil suit came later.

The boy said his friendship started with simple gifts and innocent conversation but escalated over a four-month period to cuddling, fondling, then masturbation and oral sex.

Last week, advisers for Jackson, whose vast wealth has reportedly been depleted, launched the same "money hungry" defense against the latest accuser's family.

That tactic faded quickly when Sneddon announced the family had no plans for a civil suit, and that the boy - who once liked Jackson so much he called him "daddy" - was cooperating and willing to testify.

Two California laws enacted since the 1993 probe give prosecutors a better chance of making the latest charges stick.

One of the statutes allows a district attorney to prevent a child molestation suspect from paying off alleged victims while a criminal case is pending. Any contract that includes payments stretching more than a year is nullified.

The other new law allows the admission of evidence of prior sexual conduct. Conceivably, victims who have not gone to the police could be compelled to testify, as could the boy in the 1993 probe, who is now in his 20s.

The only one who cannot be forced to testify is the boy making the latest allegations. Judges are specifically barred under California law from forcing them to testify.

In trying to understand Jackson, who could face a minimum of three years and a maximum of eight years in prison on each of the multiple counts cited in his arrest warrant, one must also try to understand the parents of the young overnight guests.

The mother of the cancer sufferer said in February that she saw nothing wrong with her son sleeping at Neverland, along with his younger brother and older sister.

"All of my kids have stayed over with Michael," she said. "I am comfortable with that. They are happy with him and have a lot of fun. They are hoping to travel the world with him. He is their angel."

- August 1993: LAPD launches criminal probe after 13-year-old boy says he was sexually abused by Jackson over a four-month period. Jackson's camp claims he's target of multimillion-dollar extortion plot.

- Sept. 14, 1993: Boy's family files civil suit accusing Jackson of sexual battery, negligence and fraud.

- Nov. 22, 1993: Five former security guards sue, claiming Jackson fired them because they knew too much about his nighttime visits with young boys.

- Dec. 8, 1993: La Toya Jackson accuses brother of sexually molesting young boys, saying, "This has been going on since 1981, and it's not just one child." Other family members rally to Michael's defense.

- Dec. 13, 1993: Former Jackson maid tells the Los Angeles Times she quit after seeing him naked with young boys on several occasions.

- Jan. 24, 1994: Prosecutors announce they will not bring extortion charges against the 13-year-old boy's father. The next day, Jackson agrees to pay millions of dollars to settle the civil suit.

- May 26, 1994: While two grand juries hear evidence against him, Jackson weds Lisa Marie Presley in the Dominican Republic.

- Sept. 15, 1994: Judge rules Jackson can invoke his Fifth Amendment right in a suit filed by former security guards, enabling him to avoid answering whether he sexually abused children.

- Sept. 21, 1994: Prosecutors announce that no charges will be brought against Jackson because the 13-year-old now refuses to testify.

- Nov. 15, 1996: After divorcing Presley, Jackson marries Debbie Rowe, his dermatologist's assistant. She's six months pregnant with their child. They'll have one more before divorcing.

- Nov. 19, 2002: Dangles baby son Prince Michael II, born to surrogate mom, over balcony in Berlin.

- February: Appears on TV special and characterizes slumber parties as nonsexual and "charming."

- May: Files lawsuit against Motown Recordsfor unpaid royalties. Rumors of financial troubles surface.

- Thursday: Surrenders on arrest warrant charging him with molestation of 12-year-old boy. He's released on $3 million bail.

Profile Of A Pedophile
By Tammy L. Ruggles, BSW, MA

Mental Health Professional
Social Worker
Tammy's Website

Tammy Ruggles writes for a local newspaper, "The Lewis County Herald" (publisher Dennis Brown), and has a column called TR's Topics. Her first non-fiction book, tentatively titled The Ultimate Teen Help Guide, has been picked up for publication by Rowman & Littlefield/Scarecrow Press, and should be available in late 2003 or early 2004. Visti Tammy's Website.

Pedophiles don't have signs on their backs or neon arrows pointing over their heads.

It's easier to believe that the "dirty old man in the park", rather than the clean-cut bus driver down the street, is a pedophile.

Pedophiles aren't confined to our Catholic churches. They are in Protestant churches, synagogues, and mosques. Some of them are teachers, counselors, scout leaders, truck drivers, factory workers, and youth ministers. In fact, they are wherever children can be found, irrespective of age, race, education, occupation, class, social standing, or income.

Celibacy isn't the reason priests prey on children. Sexual attraction to children, and sexual gratification from children, are the reasons.

Though there is no hard and fast profile of a pedophile, here are some general characteristics:

Popular with both children and adults.
Appears to be trustworthy and respectable. Has good standing in the community.
Prefers the company of children. Feels more comfortable with children than adults. Is mainly attracted to prepubescent boys and girls. Can be heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual.
"Grooms" children with quality time, video games, parties, candy, toys, gifts, money.
Singles out children who seem troubled and in need of attention or affection.
Often dates or marries women with children that are the age of his preferred victims.
Rarely forces or coerces a child into sexual contact. Usually through trust and friendship. Physical contact is gradual, from touching, to picking up, to holding on lap, to kissing, etc.
Derives gratification in a number of ways. For some, looking is enough. For others, taking pictures or watching children undress is enough. Still others require more contact.
Finds different ways and places to be alone with children.
Are primarily (but not always) male, masculine, better-educated, more religious than average, in their thirties, and choose jobs allowing them greater access to children.
Are usually family men, have no criminal record, and deny that they abuse children, even after caught, convicted, incarcerated, and court-ordered into a sex offender program. The marriage is often troubled by sexual dysfunction, and serves as a smokescreen for the pedophile's true preferences and practices.
Are often, but not always, themselves victims of some form of childhood sexual abuse.
Even if the pedophile has no children, his home is usually child-friendly, with toys, books, video games, computers, bikes, swing sets, skateboards, rec room, pool, snacks - things to attract children to his home and keep them coming back. Usually the items reflect the preferred age of his victims.
A female pedophile usually abuses a child when partnered with an adult male pedophile, and is often herself a victim of chronic sexual abuse.
A pedophile can act independently, or be involved in an organized ring, including the Internet, NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), and other pro-pedophilia groups. Some pedophiles recognize that their behavior is criminal, immoral, and unacceptable by society, and operate in secrecy. Some are quite open and militant about their practices and advocate the normalization of pedophilia under the guise of freedom of speech and press, and uses innocuous language like "intergenerational intimacy."
Pedo means "child" in Greek. Phile is a derivative of Greek, Latin, and French, meaning "love."

The Exclusive type of pedophile is attracted to children only. The Non-Exclusive is attracted to both children and adults.

A pedophile will not stop on his own, and will not turn himself in, because he does not take responsibility for his behavior and denies that he's doing anything harmful. He will abuse until he's caught.

A child not always recognizes when he or she is being abused, manipulated, or groomed by a pedophile. Unless the pedophile is a sexual sadist, he does not have to threaten a child into silence. The trust, gifts, secrecy, and "relationship" are enough. In some cases, the abuser will coerce the child into silence by saying that if anyone finds out, he would go to jail, or the child would, and maybe the child's parents. In other cases, threats to harm the child, pets, and family are used.

Pedophiles can be "treated" but never cured, because their sexual preference has always been, and always will be, children. Their urges will always be present. Therefore, treatment focuses on changing, curbing, or re-directing the acting-out behaviors of pedophiles.

Knowing the profile of a pedophile, does this mean that the little league coach who has a great rapport with kids and treats them to pizza at his house is suspect? Or that the teacher who throws pool parties is? Of course not. The majority of people who like and work with children are not pedophiles. It does mean that we should be observant of all the adults in our children's lives, whether they wear a white collar, a blue collar, or a clerical collar.

If a child tells us he or she has been sexually abused by someone, be it family, friend, or trusted adult, we are obligated by law to report it to a child abuse hotline, police, or local children's services agency.

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