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I am writing a series of articles about the Arvizo allegations for this website: http://michaeljacksonallegations.com/
What I plan to do is a four part series:
1) A general outline of the events leading up to the allegations
2) The Changing Content of the Allegations and Contradictions
3) The Conspiracy Charge
4) Credibility issues with the accuser and the family
I'm able to do the content and I already wrote the first two parts. My problem is, however, that I'm not native English speaker so I need grammar and style correction in these articles so that it becomes presentable in a website to the general public. So I ask native English speakers or those who have native level English knowledge to help me with correcting my articles grammatically and stylistically. But if you have comments or suggestions about the content please feel free to share those as well.
So here is Part 1:
A general outline of the events leading up to the allegations
In this section we give a general outline of the Arvizo case and mainly about the events leading up to the allegations and how and when the allegations emerged. The exact content of the Arvizo family’s allegations, the contradictions and changes in them, the timeline and its changes and the credibility issues with the Arvizo family and other issues of the case will be discussed in detail in separate articles.
The events leading up to the allegations
An introduction of the Arvizo family and how their relationship with Michael Jackson started
Michael Jackson first met his later accuser, Gavin Arvizo and the boy’s family in the summer of 2000. At the time the then 10-year-old Gavin was in hospital with a rare type of cancer that affected his kidney and spleen. His doctors removed one of his kidneys and his spleen and began chemotherapy.
Gavin was a big fan of comedians and before his illness he went to comedy classes at the Laugh Factory which is a comedy club in Hollywood owned by the comedian, Jamie Masada. In the club Gavin and his family made friends with several comedians such as Masada, George Lopez, Louise Palanker and Chris Tucker. When Gavin became ill Masada visited him in the hospital several times. Gavin asked him to help him meet certain celebrities, and one day he asked to meet Michael Jackson. Masada testified at Jackson’s trial that he did not personally know Michael Jackson, but he somehow managed to contact his people and tell them about Gavin’s request. Jackson called the boy in the hospital and they talked for about five minutes, according to Gavin’s testimony in 2005. During the conversation Jackson invited Gavin and his family to his Neverland Ranch. According to Gavin’s 2005 testimony Jackson called him about 20 other times during his illness - sometimes in the hospital, sometimes in his grandmother’s home where Gavin lived at the time in a sterile room.
After the first round of Gavin’s chemotherapy the Arvizo family went to Neverland in August 2000. The family at the time consisted of Gavin, his older sister Davellin, his one year younger brother Star, their mother Janet Arvizo and their father David Arvizo. They all went on that Neverland visit.
On that first visit Gavin and Star slept in Jackson’s bedroom. This is the night that is referenced in the 2003 Bashir documentary that caused big public uproar, even though both Gavin and Jackson made it clear that while the kids slept on the bed, Jackson slept on the floor:
“Gavin: There was one night, I asked him if I could stay in his bedroom. He let me stay in the bedroom. And I was like, ‘Michael you can sleep in the bed’, and he was like ‘No, no, you sleep on the bed’, and I was like ‘No, no, no, you sleep on the bed’, and then he said ‘Look, if you love me, you’ll sleep in the bed’. I was like ‘Oh mannnn?” so I finally slept on the bed. But it was fun that night.
Jackson: I slept on the floor. Was it a sleeping bag?
Gavin: You packed the whole mess of blankets on the floor.” [1]
What is not mentioned in the documentary is the fact that not only Jackson did not sleep in the same bed as Gavin and Star, but he also insisted on his personal assistant, Frank Cascio (also called Frank Tyson sometimes) to sleep in the room as well. Jackson’s own children, 3-year-old Prince and 2-year old Paris (Blanket was not yet born), were there as well and slept on the bed with the Arvizo kids, while the two adult men, Jackson and Cascio, slept on the floor.
Cascio recalled the situation in his 2011 book, My Friend Michael:
“Then came the night when Gavin and his brother Star pleaded with Michael to allow them to sleep with him. “Can we sleep in your room tonight? Can we sleep in your bed tonight?” the boys begged. “My mother said it’s okay, if it’s okay with you,” Gavin added. Michael, who always had a hard time saying no to kids, replied, “Sure, no problem.” But then he came to me. “She’s pushing her kids onto me,” he said, visibly concerned. He had a strange, uncomfortable feeling about it. “Frank, they can’t stay.”
[...]
I went to the kids and said, “Michael has to sleep. I’m sorry, you can’t stay in his room.” Gavin and Star kept begging, I kept saying no, and then Janet [Arvizo - the mother] said to Michael, “They really want to stay with you. It’s okay with me.” Michael relented. He didn’t want to let the kids down. His heart got in the way, but he was fully aware of the risk. He said to me, “Frank, if they’re staying in my room, you’re staying with me. I don’t trust this mother. She’s ****ed up.” I was totally against it, but I said, “All right. We do what we have to do.” Having me there as a witness would safeguard Michael against any shady ideas that the Arvizos might have been harboring. Or so we were both naive enough to think.”
The fact that Cascio and Jackson’s children were in the room as well was not disputed by the Arvizos in Court, nor did they claim any molestation or attempt at molestation occuring that night. They claimed the acts of molestation happened almost three years later, in February-March 2003, AFTER the Bashir documentary aired and WHILE Santa Barbara authorities and child protective services were investigating Jackson because of the Bashir documentary. We will discuss this timeline later in this article and in more detail in a separate article.
There was one disputed element of this night, though. In Court in 2005 the Arvizos accused Jackson and Cascio of showing them adult heterosexual pornography on a laptop computer that Jackson gave to Gavin as a gift that day. Both Jackson and Cascio denied showing any such material to the children. We will address this allegation in our article about certain details of the Arvizo’s case.
According to Gavin’s own testimony, after this one occasion at Neverland he and his family did not have much contact with Jackson until the fall of 2002, when they were called back for the Bashir documentary. They were allowed to go to Neverland, and they did at least 7-10 times during that period, but most of the time Jackson was not even there and when he was, he actively avoided the Arvizos. From Gavin’s testimony at Jackson’s 2005 trial:
Q. And on those occasions when Mr. Jackson was on the ranch, did you have any contact with him ?
A. Those two occasions, yeah. But, I mean, like, sometimes I would go up to the ranch and he would say that he ‘s not there , and then he would be there .
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. Like, when I would have cancer. I don‘t know what happened, but Michael, like, kind of stopped talking to me and stuff, right in the middle of my cancer. And, like, I would go up there, and I would see, like, Prince and Paris playing there , and I would think that Michael was there, and they would tell me that Michael wasn’t there. And then , like, I would see him somewhere, and — I don’t know.
Q. Was there one occasion when you actually ran into him by accident ?
A. Yeah.
Q. Tell the jury about that.
A. Well, I was playing with Prince and Paris outside, like in the back of the house near where the arcade was . And then we were walking into the — into the main house . And I knew the code, because they would give me the codes. And then I walked in the door with Prince in my hand and Paris in my other hand, and — we were holding hands. And then we walked into the house and there I saw Michael walking, like, toward me . But I guess he didn’t see me turn the corner . And then he acted as if , “Oh, crap,” you know what I mean? Like, he saw me. And then — then he just played it off and , like, acted like, “Oh, hi, Doo-Doo Head.” You know, at the time I — I was kind of hypnotized and, like, he ‘s my –
MR . MESEREAU: Objection; calls for a narrative and non responsive.
THE COURT : Sustained .
Q. BY MR . SNEDDON : Okay.
A. And then , like –
Q. That’s all right. I’ll give you a question. So in any case , you bumped into him ?
A. Yeah. And I was — because of –
Q. That’s okay . How much more contact did you have with him on that time when you bumped into him? How much time did the contact last?
A. I didn’t really see him through my cancer a lot.
Q. I mean, you told the ladies and gentlemen of the jury there was an occasion where you were there when you kind of bumped into him by accident ?
A. Yeah.
Q. When you actually made contact with him - okay? – how long did that last? Just — how long was the conversation between the two of you?
A. Maybe , like , five minutes. When — that time we bumped into each other, and then we just talked about — and stuff, and he said he had to go somewhere.
On cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas Meserau Gavin again complained about Jackson avoiding him and said that no other celebrity he befriended ever did that to him:
Q. Can you look this jury in eye and tell them Michael Jackson did nothing for you when you had cancer.
A. I never said Michael did nothing for me.
Q. Did you say he did very little.
A. Yeah. He didn’t do as much as I felt, as my 11-year-old mind felt.
Q. He should.
A. No. He shouldn’t -- it’s not his obligation to do anything.
Q. Well, are you telling the jury you deserved a lot more from Michael Jackson than you and your family got.
A. No.
Q. Is that what you’re saying.
A. No. I’m just saying that -- see, when I have a friend, Michael, and you’re saying all these things that he did, but, you know, when my 11-year-old mind -- and when I see my friend say that he’s not there, and he’s not at Neverland Ranch trying -- and I see him walking and I see his car that he only drives going down at Neverland, you know, it felt like my heart broke right there.
Q. So by doing all of these things --
A. And I don’t remember George Lopez or Jamie Masada or Louise Palanker ever doing that to me.
Gavin also complained on the stand that Jackson changed his phone numbers and became unavailable to them.
Q. And at some point you complained to the sheriffs that Mr. Jackson had changed his phone numbers after you visited the Hilton, right.
A. Well, that was the only phone number I left -- or I called -- well, I’m not sure. Because the only phone number that never changed was Evvy’s [Evvy Tavasci – Jackson’s secretary at the time] phone number. And I would call her and I would ask her sometimes where Michael was or something. And then -- and I had the phone number to his hotel, so I think I called him at his hotel and asked him if I could go visit him. I think it was around -- I’m not sure when exactly.
Q. When did you first get upset about your phone numbers for Michael Jackson not working.
A. Maybe around the third or fourth chemotherapy round I called his numbers and it would be, like, “This phone number is no longer in service.” Or sometimes it would just ring and it wouldn’t never -- no one would ever pick up or something like that.
[…]
Q. Well, you’ve indicated that you were upset that the phone numbers you had for Mr. Jackson at some point didn’t work, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And the phone numbers you had for Mr. Jackson began to not work after it appeared that your cancer was in remission, correct.
A. No, I said they stopped working after my third or fourth chemotherapy round.
Q. Okay. Before that, could you easily call him.
A. Yes.
Q. And before that, did you often call him.
A. Yes. And he would call me and stuff. We would talk -- we talked a lot more before then.
Q. In fact, you called him at the Universal -- Hilton Universal the day you visited, right.
A. I believe so. I’m not too sure how it came about.
and
Q. Okay. Now, you complained to the Santa Barbara Sheriffs that, “After I was done with my cancer stuff,” you never saw Michael again, right.
A. No, not until the Martin Bashir thing.
Q. Okay. And you wanted to see him after you were in remission, correct.
A. Yes.
Q. You wanted to visit Neverland after you were in remission, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And you felt in some way that Michael had cut off the friendship, right.
A. Yes.
Q. You felt he had abandoned you, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And you felt he had abandoned your family, right.
A. Yes.
To not to lose contact with Jackson the Arvizo family started to bombard him with nice letters and cards:
Q. And approximately when do you think he wasn’t talking to you anymore.
A. Two months into my cancer.
Q. Excuse me.
A. Two months into my chemotherapy.
Q. Approximately when would that be.
A. August or September of 2000.
Q. Okay. So August or September of 2000, you and your family started sending nice letters and cards to Michael Jackson, correct.
A. Yes.
Q. And those are the letters and cards that I showed you a little while ago, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And it was your understanding your mother used to send him cards and letters as well, right.
A. I think so.
While Jackson personally kept his distance from the family, he did things to help them. In October, 2000 Jackson gave the family a white van as a gift. He also allowed the Arvizos to use Neverland for a blood drive for Gavin and all his employees donated blood.
In the Spring of 2001 Gavin's biological father and mother, David and Janet Arvizo seperated - according to Janet Arvizo’s 2005 testimony because David physically abused her and the children.
In the Summer of 2001 both the laptop and the van Jackson gave the Arvizos the previous year had broken down and the family sent them back to Jackson to have them repaired. According to the Arvizos they never saw any of them again.
On September 24, 2001 the Arvizo family reached an out of court settlement with the J. C. Penney department store. The subject of the case was an allegation by the Arvizo family that in 1998 J.C. Penney guards beat up Janet, David, Gavin and Star Arvizo in a parking lot and they sexually abused Janet Arvizo. The guards followed the family in the parking lot because Gavin was caught stealing two school uniforms and two school uniform pants. The Arvizos then managed to turn it around into a physical and sexual abuse lawsuit against the J. C. Penney guards. At Jackson’s 2005 trial evidence and testimony showed that the family lied under oath in depositions in that case. We will discuss the details of this case in a separate article.
In the Spring of 2002 the Arvizos spent a few days at Neverland with the actor Chris Tucker to celebrate the birthday of latter's infant son. Jackson was not present.
Martin Bashir’s documentary, “Living with Michael Jackson”
In the Summer-Autumn of 2002 British journalist and television host Martin Bashir worked on a documentary with Michael Jackson entitled “Living with Michael Jackson”. During the creation of that documentary Bashir suggested to Jackson that in the film he could show the public how the singer helped children with serious illnesses. Jackson presented Bashir with two examples: the story of David Rothenberg (“Dave Dave”) who was badly burned by his father when he was a child in the 1980s. Jackson took it upon himself to help Rothenberg throughout his life. Here is Rothenberg talking about Michael Jackson after Jackson’s death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5Q4syywcw
The other option offered was the cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo. By 2002 Rothenberg was an adult and Bashir chose to go with the still 13-year-old Gavin instead, so they invited him and his siblings, Star and Davellin to the set - even though Rothenberg was present as well, according to Gavin's testimony:
Q. Okay. Did you ever meet this person who was burned.
A. Yeah, I think Michael introduced me to him.
Q. And when was this.
A. Around the same time as the Martin Bashir thing.
Q. Was it at Neverland.
A. Yes.
Q. Did you talk to this person.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember the person’s name.
A. I think his name might have been David.
Q. Was it Rothenberg.
A. I don’t know.
Q. Was this a young man that you learned’s father had poured gasoline on him and set him o fire.
A. I don’t know.
Q. Okay.
A. I think that’s what happened.
Q. And he was supposed to be in the film with you, right.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And correct me if I’m wrong, you discussed with Michael the fact that Michael had helped this young boy, right.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Did you talk to this young boy about what he had experienced.
A. No.
Q. Okay. Did you ever see him.
A. Yes.
Q. And please describe for the jury what he looked like.
A. He looked like he was really badly burned and he had like -- he was like a rocker. He was wearing, like, rocker stuff. And he was burned. And he had like only a few hairs on his head because I guess it covered all the pores when he was burned.
Q. Did you and he appear in the film, if you know.
A. Later I watched it, and then -- well, I watched my part, and then I don’t think he was in there.
Q. Okay. But was he at Neverland the day you were filmed.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Did you meet him shortly after you arrived.
A. Yes.
The shooting of the scene with Gavin and his two siblings took place in September 2002. Janet Arvizo later said that she was not aware at the time that her children would appear in the documentary.
Jackson trusted that Bashir had no hidden agenda in how he presented his relationship with Gavin and out of naivety and guilelessness allowed himself to be filmed showing affection to Gavin and holding his hand while the boy leaned his head on his shoulder. Bashir exploited Jackson’s poor judgement in public relations and drew him into a discussion of whether it was acceptable to share a bedroom with a child.
When the documentary aired in February 2003 this segment caused a storm of bad publicity for Jackson and wild speculations about the nature of his relationship with Gavin Arvizo. In reality, as you have seen above, there was no close relationship between Jackson and Gavin, and since 2000 they hardly even met as Jackson did not seem to trust him and his family and kept his distance from them.
Throughout the documentary Bashir uses suggestive and highly manipulative narration and it seems that his intention from the beginning was to create and feed in innuendo about Jackson’s relationship with children. Even Gavin admitted in his 2005 testimony that Bashir’s portrayal of Jackson in the documentary was false.
After the shooting of the scene the Arvizo children stayed at the ranch for one night, but Jackson immediately left after the segment and he was again unavailable to Gavin:
Q. At that point, could you reach Michael Jackson by telephone if you wanted to.
A. No, after the Martin Bashir thing, he didn’t give me any phone numbers, because he left, like, either the same day or the day after the Martin Bashir interview, and I didn’t really get any other phone numbers.
The fallout resulting from the Bashir documentary and damage control by Jackson’s PR team
The Arvizos had not met Jackson again until after the Bashir documentary aired in the UK on February 3, 2003 and then in the US on February 6, 2003. As a result of the documentary the media went into a frenzy, the 1993 allegations againts Jackson were rehashed in articles and talk shows. On February 6 someone illegally leaked Jordan Chandler’s 1993 declaration to the media to further antagonize the public against Jackson. The media also tried to “hunt down” the Arvizo family.
Jackson’s team tried to fight this negative publicity and decided to hold a press conference with the Arvizo family in Miami on February 5 or 6, 2003. The press conference eventually was called off, but the Arvizos did travel to Miami with actor Chris Tucker to participate in it in support of Jackson. Jackson and the Arvizos then returned to Neverland on February 7-8. The family remained there, on and off, until March 12.
The crucial period: February 7-March 12, 2003
In the hindsight, when they made their allegations, the Arvizos claimed that during this period, February 7-March 12, 2003, they were kept captive at Neverland against their will. This allegation is what the conspiracy charge deals with and we will discuss it in detail in another article. During their alleged captivity the Arvizos went shopping several times, visited a lawyer, talked to Child Protective Services because of the Bashir documentary and appeared in a Court regarding a child support debate, yet they never reported to authorities that they were allegedly being kidnapped and held against their will at Neverland. The claim was that Jackson supposedly kept them captive to force them to participate in the so called “rebuttal video”.
Jackson’s team was trying to do damage control regarding the Bashir documentary and they were working on a so called “rebuttal video” which was released on February 20, 2003 as Michael Jackson, Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See. This documentary features footage made by Jackson’s own cameraman Hamid Moslehi during the shooting of the Bashir documentary and it features material that Bashir deliberately omitted, shows his manipulation of Jackson and also features interviews with other people, for example with Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe. Initially the Arvizos would have been featured in this documentary as well, but at the end their segment was not included. However, the footage that was made for this documentary with the Arvizo family was shot and later found by the prosecution when they searched Moslehi’s home during the Jackson investigation. As a result the Arvizos, - with the prosecution’s assistance - were forced to change their initial timeline of the allegations.
Initially the Arvizos claimed the molestation started as soon as they returned from Miami with Jackson, on February 7. Their segment of the „rebuttal video” however was shot on February 20. In it they are seen laughing and joking, happily praising Michael Jackson. They also express their displeasure with Martin Bashir. In the hindsight they tried to claim they were under duress, but behind the scenes footage showed them not only laughing and joking, but even making suggestions themselves about what they wanted to do on film. They certainly do not seem to be forced or under duress by any means. The resulting timeline change was not just a minor correction. It significantly changed the narrative of the Arvizo’s initial story as we will discuss later in this article (and in detail in a separate article).
The Arvizo segment from the so called „rebuttal video” which eventually was not used in the Take Two documentary, but later became significant at Jackson’s trial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bez7QCXJJV4
Behind the scenes footage shows the family laughing and joking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUlDSoPzLLs
On February 20, the same day as the Arvizo’s segment for the “rebuttal video” was shot they also got a visit from the The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) (also mentioned as Child Protective Services – CPS). They interviewed the Arvizo family because a teacher from Gavin’s school filed a complaint over the claim in the Bashir documentary that Gavin had slept in Jackson’s bed. Again, the Arvizos said nothing but positive things about Jackson. They denied molestation and never claimed that they had been supposedly “kidnapped”. In actuality, this meeting with the DCFS took place in Major Jay Jackson’s (no relation to Michael Jackson) home who was Janet Arvizo’s boyfriend at the time and later her husband.
To explain why they did not tell anything negative about Michael Jackson to the DCFS the Arvizos had several versions of their story: initially they tried to claim it was because Jackson and his people intimidated them. According to the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) document on August 13, 2003 Gavin told them:
"Gavin was asked why he did not disclose anything to the CPS people. He said by then they were really afraid of Frank (Cascio) and Michael." (page 60)
His brother Star too claimed on the same day that the reason why they had not disclosed anything to the DCFS was intimidation by Jackson and his people:
"When asked during the CPS interview why he did not disclose anything about what was going on with Michael's people and Michael himself, Star replied that Michael had scared them by threatening them that he was going to kill them. He then clarified that it was not Michael that actually made the threat, but "Michael's people." He was asked if he was personally threatened or if he heard a threat, and he said yes. Frank told him that if Star didn't protect Michael, something bad would happen to the family. The threat was made at the snack area of the theater at Neverland. He was the only one there at the moment. Frank made another threat a couple days before the CPS meeting. Star was asked if Frank knew that they would be meeting with the ladies from the Child Welfare Services, and he said yes. When Star was asked why he thought Frank had made that threat, he said, "Because he already knew what Michael did to us." If they had told the truth, Michael would have gone to jail. " (page 51-52)
and
"He is sure he did not say anything bad about Michael (to the CPS), because he was scared." (page 52)
This is, however, totally contradictory with the later version of the Arvizos’ story, in which they claimed that the molestation started happening only AFTER the DCFS’s visit and that is why they did not disclose anything to them. In actuality, in 2005 in Court Gavin testified – according to the latest version of their story - that on February 20, when they shot the “rebuttal video” and when they were interviewed by the DCFS, they still considered Jackson to be a good person and they had no problem praising him. Under cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, the boy stated that most of the things that they said in the “rebuttal video” reflected their true feelings about the entertainer at the time. He talked about some lies that they told – allegedly at the request of one of Jackson’s people, Dieter Wiesner – but these were only exaggerations about how much Jackson was really there for him during his cancer or how much part he really played in his healing. However, on contrary with his and his brother’s earlier statements to the police, on the stand Gavin clearly stated that when they made the ”rebuttal video” they still felt that Jackson was a great person. Gavin also said that he had a good time at Neverland and did not give the impression they were intimidated by anything there:
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Okay. It wasn’t until you realized you were not going to be part of Michael Jackson’s family, you were not going to meet Michael Jackson in Brazil, you were not going to be going to Neverland, that you ever came up with these allegations of molestation, right.
A. I didn’t come and talk to the -- to the -- my mom always wanted to leave. She was the one that was able to realize and get us out of there. I liked being there.
and
Q. I see. So you went into town with Michael Jackson, correct.
A. Yeah. Michael took us to Toys R Us.
Q. You picked up some fans, correct, on the way.
A. Yeah, Michael invited some people into our -- the thing.
Q. You never complained to anyone in the store or any of these fans that anyone was being held against their will, correct.
A. I was actually happy to be at Neverland all the time.
Q. And you were happy to go --
A. That’s something you don’t really understand, is that the majority of those times was -- the first few escapes that you talk about, I liked being at Neverland. That was like Disneyland. I loved being there. I had lots of fun. I mean, my mom was the one always worried. It wasn’t until the last time that I realized “I don’t want to be here.”
Q. Your mother was worried, but she always came back, right. Right.
A. I guess so.
These last two lines are a reference to the Arvizos’ claim that during their alleged “kidnapping” they “escaped” three times, but then they always returned.
The first alleged “escape” happened shortly after they returned from Miami on February 7. One night Janet Arvizo asked Jackson's ranch manager, Jesus Salas to take them home to Los Angeles, which he did. Moreover according to Janet Arvizo's own claims in her police interview on July 6-7, 2003, Marie Nicole Cascio assisted them in their "escape":
"She described running in the dark through Neverland, being led by Marie Nicole, to find her way to the car. Mrs. Arvizo was unable to recall exact dates of events during this period. She stated that there were no clocks or calendars at Neverland and she would lose track of the date." (page 25)
Marie Nicole Cascio is the sister of Frank Cascio, who allagedly was one of the main culprits in the Arvizos’ “kidnapping”.
Janet Arvizo explained her “escaping” with the fact that she did not like two of Jackson’s people, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, whom she called “the Germans”, and felt intimidated by them. After Frank Cascio promised her that the Germans would not be at Neverland any more, she and her children returned. However, the Germans were still at Neverland, so Janet Arvizo “escaped” again, this time on her own, leaving her children behind, asking Jackson’s bodyguard, Chris Carter to take her to Jay Jackson’s house, which he did. Both of these alleged “escapes” happened within a couple of days after they returned from Miami on February 7. The third occasion that was characterized as an “escape” by Janet Arvizo when the Arvizos left Neverland for good. Once again the “escape” was not met with much resistance from Jackson’s people – in fact, Janet Arvizo just asked Vinnie Amen, Frank Cascio’s friend and closest colleague, one of the Arvizos’ alleged “kidnappers”, to take them to the home of Janet Arvizo’s parents and he did.
Jackson and his people apparently were suspicious of the Arvizos and of how they may use the media frenzy resulting from the Bashir documentary for their benefit. The media at this point tried to contact the Arvizos and Jackson already had experience with the practices of the tabloid media and what the temptation of tabloid money can make people claim (see this article). The fact that Jackson did not trust this family from the beginning is apparent from the fact that he tried to keep his distance from them, as discribed by even Gavin himself in Court.
In fact, not long after the Bashir documentary aired Jackson hired attorney, Mark Geragos. Bradley Miller, a private investigator working for Geragos, conducted and tape recorded an interview with Janet Arvizo in Jay Jackson's home on February 16. On the tape Janet Arvizo does not mention she or her children being “kidnapped” or being held captive by either Jackson or his people, nor any other wrongdoing by Jackson. In fact she says nothing but nice things about him. In Court in 2005 Janet Arvizo said of that interview:
Q. All right. And you said nice things about Mr. Jackson, did you not?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did you believe those things at that time?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. You would have said those things even if he hadn’t rewound the tape-recorder?
A. That’s right.
Like said before, the Arvizos’ story changed over the course of the investigation. Initially they claimed that Jackson started molesting Gavin immediately after they returned from Miami on February 7. This is also represented in the prosecution's initial felony complaint, filed on December 18, 2003 (link). In interviews they gave to the police in 2003 the Arvizos claimed that they told nice things about Jackson in their interview with the DCFS and the „rebuttal video” (both on February 20) because they were under duress and intimidated by Jackson’s people. However, with the emergence of the „rebuttal tape” that was shot of the Arvizo family by Hamid Moslehi, this claim became hard to defend, so the story later changed to the molestation starting only after February 20 - after the shooting of the „rebuttal video” and after the Arvizo’s interview with the DCFS. In the new version of their story, and this was the version they presented in Court, the Arvizos did not tell the DCFS simply because no molestation had happened yet on February 20 and not because they were intimidated by Jackson and/or his people, as they initially claimed.
It was not only the DCFS that started an investigation against Jackson because of the Bashir documentary. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department too launched an investigation in February 2003 based on a complaint by psychiatrist Dr. Carol Lieberman - again, because of the Bashir documentary. This investigation continued until April, 2003.
(Dr. Lieberman is the same psychiatrist who together with attorney and TV personality Gloria Allred also filed complaints against Jackson for the so called “baby dangling incident” and campaigned for Jackson’s children to be taken away from him. Then later in 2003 Allred represented a 18-year-old young men, Daniel Kapon, who claimed he had been sexually molested by Michael Jackson when he was a child. Kapon claimed he had “repressed memories” of the molestation and therefore only recently recalled the abuse. It was Dr. Lieberman who "helped" bring forth his "repressed memories". During an investigation into the matter by the Santa Barbara Police Department it emerged that in reality Kapon never even met Jackson. For details about Kapon see this article [link].)
So in the latest version of their story the Arvizos’ claim was that Jackson molested Gavin between February 20 and March 12, 2003 (see the prosecution’s final charges – link). So the Arvizos’ story is that while all this was happening - public outrage because of the Bashir documentary, innuendo and allegations in the media about Jackson’s relationship with children – and specifically Gavin - as a result of the Bashir documentary, high media interest, tabloids trying to „hunt down” the Arvizo family, DCFS investigation, another investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, Jackson’s PR and legal team working overtime on damage control because of the public relations backlash resulting from the Bashir documentary and its innuendo – all WHILE this is happening Jackson starts molesting Gavin Arvizo, even though for three years he has not touched him and obviusly not even trusted him and his family. And even though he had not molested Gavin until all these investigations by the DCFS and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department started, but he started to molest him WHILEthese investigations were ongoing.
THIS is exactly what the Arvizo family claimed, this is exactly their story that you have to believe in order to believe their allegations! (Among several other problems with their case that we detail in seperate articles.)
The Arvizos left Neverland for good on March 12, so according to their final version of the allegations Jackson molested Gavin between February 20 and March 12, 2003. In actuality, this period becomes even shorter when whe know that between February 25 and March 2 the Arvizos were not at Neverland but stayed in a hotel in Calabasas. Moreover phone logs presented by the prosecution towards the end of the presentation of their side of the case inadverently revealed that in early March Jackson stayed a few days at the Beverly Hilton hotel using the pseudonym Kenneth Morgan (as celebrities often use pseudonyms to avoid attention). From the logs it appears he was there at least on March 7-8, but possibly also on March 6, while the Arvizos were at Neverland. Based on the phone logs it also seems on February 20 Jackson was at the Turnberry Isle Resort in Miami, Florida. The testimony of Azja Pryor (Chris Tucker’s girlfriend at the time) confirms that Jackson was not at Neverland on February 20.
On February 21 Janet Arvizo first visited civil attorney William Dickerman. Janet Arvizo denied this in her testimony, but Dickerman in his own testimony stated they first met on February 21. Then they met again on February 25 – on this both testimonies agreed. This was during the Arvizos’ supposed "kidnap", yet Janet Arvizo did not mention being kidnapped or being held captive to the lawyer on any occasion, nor did the lawyer report any such thing to any authority. According to Janet Arvizo she contacted Dickerman because she wanted him to stop the media from using her children's likeness and photos in their publications and on their programs.
Around this time there were plans to take the Arvizos to Brazil for a vacation (possibly to keep them away from the media). This was later characterized by the Arvizos and the prosecution as an attempt to deport them, when in reality travel documents presented in Court showed that they were supposed to stay in Brazil for only a one week vacation. From Janet Arvizo's cross-examination:
Q. Well, the itinerary says you’re leaving Los Angeles for Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 1st, 2003, right?
A. Okay.
Q. It says you’re returning from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Miami on March 6th, 2003, correct?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. And it says you’re leaving Miami for Los Angeles on March 7th, 2003, correct?
A. Uh-huh.
According to the testimony of Azja Pryor, girlfriend of the actor Chris Tucker at the time, far from being forced, at the time Janet Arvizo was looking forward to the trip and even invited her:
Q. Did Janet ever mention a trip to Brazil to you?
A. Yes.
Q. What did she say?
A. She said that they --
MR. SNEDDON: I’ll object as hearsay.
MR. MESEREAU: Impeachment, Your Honor.
THE COURT: The objection’s overruled.
THE WITNESS: She said that they were going to Brazil for Carnivale.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: And what is Carnivale, to your knowledge?
A. Beautiful costumes, beads. I guess it’s kind of like Mardi Gras.
Q. Kind of a holiday celebration, right?
A. A holiday celebration.
Q. Did she ever ask you to go with her?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. And when did Janet ask you to go to Brazil with her to attend Carnivale?
A. During a phone conversation. It was sometime in February.
Q. Okay. And did you say anything in response to her invitation?
A. I said, “Sure, I’d love to go.”
Q. And did you ever talk to her about Brazil again?
A. Yeah, we talked a couple of times about Brazil.
Q. And did you talk about your going with her?
A. I’m sure -- I’m sure I did. I told her I couldn’t go for too long. I was in school at the time, so I would only be able to be there for, like, three or four days.
Q. Did she say that was okay?
A. Yes.
Eventually the whole trip was called off and never happened.
On March 2 the family went back again to Neverland and stayed there until March 12 when they left for good. Like mentioned above, this was characterized by Janet Arvizo in her 2005 testimony as their final „escape”. In actuality, she told Frank Cascio on the phone that her parents were sick and she would like her children to see them. Then Vinnie Amen delivered them to their parents’ home and that was it. This was the big „escape”.
Lawyers being hired and the formation of the allegations
On March 24, 2003 Janet Arvizo formally hired William Dickerman as her attorney and Dickerman began writing letters to Jackson’s attorney, Mark Geragos on her behalf demanding the return of furniture, clothes, documents and various other items which were put in a storage locker after the Arvizos moved out of their Los Angeles apartment on March 1-2. The storage locker was rented in Bradley Miller’s name. There were numerous back and forth letters between the two attorneys about the issue of where and how the Arvizos would take possession of their belongings and who would pay the outstanding bill of the storage locker.
In his letters Dickerman also claimed that Jackson’s people harrassed and followed around the Arvizo family after they left Neverland. However, nowhere in his letters there are claims of child molestation, claims of false inprisonment or claims of providing alcohol to a minor. From William Dickerman’s cross-examination by Jackson’s attorney, Thomas Mesereau:
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Nowhere in this letter of March 26th that you wrote to Mr. Geragos on behalf of the Arvizos is there any mention of alcohol, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. Now, in this letter of March 26th to Mr. Geragos, there is no mention of the Arvizo family ever being falsely imprisoned, correct?
A. I believe that’s correct.
Q. And in this letter of March 26th to Attorney Mark Geragos, there’s no mention of the Arvizo family ever being kidnapped, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. In this letter of March 26th, 2003, to Mr. Geragos that you wrote, there’s no mention of any extortion, right?
A. I believe that’s correct. I haven’t read this word for word, but it sounds right.
Q. Okay. When you sent this letter to Mr. Geragos on March 26th, 2003, two days after you had been retained by the Arvizos, did you ever call the police to complain about false imprisonment, kidnapping, molestation or alcohol?
A. No.
and
Q. In that letter, you never mention anything about molestation, correct?
A. That’s correct. The only purpose of the letter was to get the items that I had written about before.
Q. In the April 3rd letter, 2003, you mention nothing about alcohol, correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. You mention nothing about false imprisonment, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. You mention nothing about any alleged kidnapping, correct?
A. That is correct.
Q. You mentioning nothing about any alleged extortion, correct?
A. Correct.
Dickerman never mentioned any such complaint in his verbal communication with Geragos either:
Q. Now, in all of these conversations you had with Mark Geragos on behalf of the Arvizos, at no time did you mention to him anything about child molestation, correct?
A. Well, I don’t think I had more than one or two conversations.
Q. And you never mentioned anything about child molestation, correct?
A. That’s correct. That wasn’t the purpose of the communication.
Q. You never mentioned anything about wine allegedly being given to any of the Arvizo children, correct?
A. Correct. There was no reason to do that.
According to his own testimony, in early May of 2003 William Dickerman entered into a fee-sharing agreement with attorney, Larry Feldman. Feldman in his own testimony confirmed that they had fee-sharing agreement, although he suggested it came about a little bit later („not right at the beginning”), but he did not specify when.
Larry Feldman was the same civil attorney who negotiated the $15 million settlement for the Chandlers, the family of Jackson’s first accuser in 1993-94. According to the Arvizos’ later story at this time Gavin had not yet disclosed his alleged abuse to anyone, including his mother or Dickerman, so at this time there were no allegations of child sexual abuse by the Arvizos yet. So why would Dickerman refer them to the same attorney who dealt with the first child abuse allegation against Jackson in 1993-94? In his 2005 testimony he explained it this way:
Q. All right. Did you file a lawsuit on behalf of Janet Arvizo or her family?
A. No.
Q. At some point in time, did you refer this matter to another attorney?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Who was that other attorney?
A. Larry Feldman.
Q. And why did you do that?
A. Excuse me. I began representing the Arvizos in February. And by the time I met with Mr. Feldman, it was the beginning of May. In that period of time I had learned a lot of things. There were a lot of allegations being made, and I realized that the best thing for my clients to do, and for me personally as their attorney, was to get some expert input as to matters of Michael Jackson. The initial things I didn’t think I really needed to do that with, but as things developed, I wanted to get some input. So I met with Mr. Feldman, whom, by the way, I knew — not “by the way.” It was very important. I knew that he was – by reputation, he was one of the top trial lawyers in California, if not the United States. And actually, previously, not knowing him except by reputation, I had referred a case to him, tried to refer a case to him that I could not handle for various reasons of an old client of mine. And I knew that he was the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters. Of course, I knew about the 1993 case, so I met with him, with the idea of picking his brain, actually, not to refer any matters to him. And afterwards, he met with them, and they — we all associated together. The Arvizos hired both him and me.
Q. All right. Have you filed a lawsuit as of this time on behalf of the Arvizos or anybody else?
A. No.
Q. Is it the case that the extent of your dealings with them so far, in terms of your communicating with others, has been for purposes of getting their property returned or dealing with the consequences of “Living with Michael Jackson,” the documentary?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have an understanding with Mr. Feldman that should there be a lawsuit in the future, that –
THE COURT: They’re not hearing you.
MR. ZONEN: I’m sorry?
THE COURT: Behind; these people can’t hear you.
MR. ZONEN: I’m terribly sorry.
Q. Is there an arrangement that, should there be a lawsuit in the future, that there would be compensation for you in any form of a settlement even if you’re not participating in that lawsuit? Do you know what I mean?
A. Well, we have an agreement.
Q. Okay.
A. It doesn’t say anything about participation or not. We were retained together, and I have a fee-sharing arrangement with Mr. Feldman.
Q. Which means what?
A. Which means I will get — if there is such a lawsuit anytime in the future, that I will be entitled to a sliding scale, depending on whether there’s a settlement or a judgment.
Q. Okay. What kind of lawsuit do you anticipate?
A. I don’t anticipate any lawsuit. My understanding is that there isn’t one in the offing. Nobody’s talking about one. And I suppose if there were to be one — well, that would be speculation.
It is not clear what Dickerman refers to when he says: "In that period of time I had learned a lot of things. There were a lot of allegations being made", because according to the Arvizos' own story they had not disclosed anything about alleged child sexual abuse to Dickerman at that point yet. The claim is that they contacted Dickerman to get back their stuff from the storage locker, to stop alleged harassment by Jackson's people and to deal with the Arvizos’ issues with the media – ie. writing letters to various media outlets to make them stop using the Arvizos’ photos and footage from the Martin Bashir documentary, unless they could show that the Arvizos had given their legal consent.
In the above extract Dickerman says: "And I knew that he was the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters. Of course, I knew about the 1993 case, so I met with him, with the idea of picking his brain, actually, not to refer any matters to him."
Feldman previously dealt with only one case regarding Michael Jackson and that was the allegations of child sexual abuse by the Chandler family in 1993. There is no other claim for him being "the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters". But we are supposed to believe that Dickerman contacted him just to help him get back some old furniture from a storage locker or to help him write letters to the media? Because remember, this was all happening BEFORE Gavin first made allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson.
After being referred to Feldman by Dickerman, Feldman sent the Arvizos to Dr. Stanley Katz, a psychologist whose field is child sexual abuse. Moreover, Dr. Katz is the same psychologist who evaluated Jordan Chandler in 1993 and with whom Larry Feldman first worked together in 1987. Dr. Katz was formerly also involved in the highly controversial McMartin preschool trial. He was the Director of Training and Professional Education at the Children’s Institute International (CII). Kee McFarlane, who initially interviewed the McMartin children, worked under him. On cross-examination at Jackson’s 2005 trial, Dr. Katz testified that he did the assessments of the McMartin children. [6] The CII’s role in the McMartin case has been widely criticized in professional circles. Their interviewing techniques are considered coercive and manipulative which may lead children make false allegations about sexual abuse. [7]
Again, keep in mind that the claim is that the Arvizos were sent to Feldman regarding the storage locker, the alleged harassment and the media issues. Gavin testified in 2005 that the first person he ever made his allegations to was Dr. Katz and that he did not make any such allegations to either Dickerman, Feldman or his mother. Yet, he was sent to the same lawyer who negotiated a $15 million settlement for the Chandler family in 1993 in a child molestation lawsuit and this lawyer then sends him to a child abuse psychologist – the same one who also evaluated the 1993 accuser.
In his testimony Feldman claimed that Dr. Katz reported his findings to him in a verbal conversation in his office. Next Feldman called the Arvizo family back in his office to tell them about it. This is yet another contradiction among the many contradictions in the Arvizos’ story, because according to Janet Arvizo she had not learnt about her son’s alleged abuse until September 2003 when the police informed her about it after talking to her children. It actually does not make much sense that a child is sent to a psychologist who is a child abuse expert and the parent would not be informed of the alleged finidings of that interview until months later, nor would she enquire about them.
From Feldman’s testimony:
Q. At some point in time, did you receive a report back from Dr. Katz about his initial contacts with the family?
A. Oral. I got an oral — I had an oral conversation with him.
Q. Do you recall whether it was in person or over the phone?
A. I think it was in person, quite frankly. I think he came to my office.
Q. Now, after you received this report, did you do anything?
A. Yes.
Q. What did you do?
A. I called the Arvizo family, Mrs. Arvizo and the three children, back into my office for a meeting.
Q. All right. And in that meeting, what was the topic discussed?
MR. MESEREAU: Objection to the extent it calls for hearsay.
MR. SNEDDON: All right.
THE COURT: Overruled. The subject matter only.
THE WITNESS: The subject matter only. The subject matter was the options — well, what Dr. Katz had told me, and their — the options that existed at that point for that family. Different courses of action that were available to them at that point in time.
Now we have four different versions by the accusing side about how and when Janet Arvizo found out about the alleged abuse of her son:
1) According to the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) in her initial interview with Sgt. Steve Robel on July 6-7, 2003 Janet Arvizo claimed that their sons disclosed to her the alleged abuse after February or March, 2003:
"These disclosures were made to her after February or March of this year [2003]. She explained that she would interrupt and tell Star and Gavin to "forgive and forget". She did this because she thought she was doing the right thing. She wanted Star and Gavin to make the disclosures to a priest or someone else. She has since learned that this was wrong of her to do." (page 23)
On the stand in 2005 Janet Arvizo claimed that at the time she was not aware that either of her sons were molested, she was only “aware of things”. However, in the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause document (November 17, 2003) it is clearly claimed that in February-March, 2003 her sons disclosed accounts of molestation to Janet Arvizo (eg. Jackson allegedly "moving his hips against Gavin" in bed while they were supposedly in bed together, Jackson allegedly touching Star's private parts etc. - see page 22-23 of the referenced document).
2) The very same prosecution document later contains a totally different version of how and when Janet Arvizo learnt about the alleged molestation of her son:
"It is important to note that during the course of the two interviews detailed in this affidavit, Mrs. Arvizo was not aware that Gavin has been molested. She believed the focus of our investigation was the family's having been held against their wishes at the Neverland Ranch upon their return from Miami and their escape in March. Mrs. Arviso (sic) told your Affiant she had contacted an attorney to help get their possessions back and to set up contacts with law enforcement to report what had happened to them. She emphasized she was not interested in money.
Your affiant is aware through a conversation with Sgt. Robel that around 5:00 p.m. on September 30, 2003, that Sgt. Robel, Lt. Klapakis and District Attorney Tom Sneddon met with Mrs. Arvizo and her family in a Los Angeles hotel and informed her that our conversations with her children had established that Gavin had been molested. This was the first time she was aware of the nature of her children's disclosures to law enforcement." (page 64)
3) On contrary with both versions in the prosecution’s Statement of Probable Cause Larry Feldman in his testimony in 2005 then provided a third version when he said after sending the Arvizo family to Dr. Stanley Katz in June 2003 he called them back to his office and discussed Dr. Katz’s findings with them and what kind of legal actions were available to them at that time.
4) As mentioned above, in March-April 2003 attorney William Dickerman wrote letters to Jackson’s attorney, Mark Geragos regarding the issue of returning the Arvizos’ items from a storage locker. In those letters Dickerman never makes any allegation of child molestation, false inprisonment or providing alcohol to a minor. When asked about this on the stand by Jackson's attorney, Thomas Mesereau, this is what Janet Arvizo had to say:
Q. In none of his letters did he ever mention anything about alcohol or child molestation, true?
A. Because that was information for these guys right here, for the police.
Q. How many months later?
A. Because I didn’t want Geragos to know that we were headed towards -- straight to the police.
So this is yet another version, in which they do not mention alleged molestation in those letters dated March-April, 2003, not because Janet Arvizo was not aware of it at the time yet, but because they were preserving that information for the police. Here we have to add, however, that they did not go “straight to the police” in March-April 2003, but they went to civil attorney Larry Feldman in May 2003 – like we have described above.
This is just one of the many contradictions in the Arvizos’ allegations. Others are discussed in detail in a seperate article.
Although Feldman represented the Arvizos, in a private conversation with television and radio host Larry King, shortly before Jackson’s trial began, Feldman admitted to King that he did not believe them, that he felt they only wanted money and that the mother was a „whacko”. King testified about it at Jackson’s trial but due to the hearsay nature of his testimony the jury was not allowed to be present and to take his testimony into consideration. Earlier in April in his own testimony, Larry Feldman denied making these remarks to Larry King.
It should be also noted that the California law that allowed the Chandlers to push the civil trial ahead of the criminal trial in 1993-94 was changed since – according to Santa Barbara District Attorney, Thomas Sneddon directly because of what happened in the Chandler case. [details see in settlement article] Because of this change, an accuser in a sexual assault case cannot pursue a civil lawsuit right away. The new law restricts a civil trial from preceding a criminal trial. It is for this reason that the Arvizos could not use the same strategy as what the Chandlers did in 1993. They had no choice but to begin a criminal trial first. And if they had won the criminal case that would have meant an automatic win for them in a civil court too, as we have learnt from the cross-examination of William Dickerman by Thomas Mesereau:
Q. But you certainly know that if someone has a judgment of a criminal conviction against them for sexual assault, you can use that in a civil court to establish liability and not have to incur the expenses and the time involved in a trial on liability, right?
A. I would assume that to be the case.
Q. The only issue at that point would be how much money you get in a civil courtroom, correct?
A. I don’t know if there are other issues, but I think as the judgment, that’s true of any criminal action, that you don’t then have to go, once again, and prove exactly what was proved with a higher burden of proof.
Feldman’s testimony under cross-examination confirmed this:
Q. Isn’t it true that a judgment of conviction in a criminal case for anything related to child molestation could be dispositive in a parallel civil suit alleged for the same facts?
A. As long as it’s a felony conviction, that’s right.
Q. In other words, if Mr. Jackson were convicted of felony child molestation in this case, either Gavin Arvizo or Star Arvizo could use that conviction to essentially win a civil case regarding similar alleged facts against Mr. Jackson?
A. That’s correct.
Q. If there were a conviction for felony child molestation in this case, and if Star or Gavin elected to sue in a civil case based on the similar alleged facts of sexual abuse, essentially the only issue remaining would be how much money you get, correct?
A. Probably. I think that’s — it’s close enough. I mean, nothing is that simple, as just stated. You know it as well as I. But essentially I think that’s what would happen.
Whatever Larry Feldman privately thought of the Arvizos, on June 13, 2003 he called Lieutenant Jeff Klapakis at the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and reported to him Gavin’s allegations. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office was not new to the case. Like mentioned earlier they were already investigating Jackson since February 2003 and their investigation started before the alleged molestations even happened, according to the Arvizos’ final timeline. Klapakis was personally involved in that investigation since the beginning.
In July-September, 2003 investigators conducted several interviews with Gavin, Star, Davellin and Janet Arvizo. These interviews contain several contradictions with each other, as well as with the later versions of the Arvizos’ story. We address those and other contradictions of the Arvizos’ allegations in a seperate article.
According to Larry Feldman’s testimony in about August, September or October of 2003 (he was not sure of the exact month) he wrote a letter to the Arvizos saying he was not going to represent them. However, from his testimony we have learnt that later he and his law firm did represent various members of the family in related and other matters. For example, in 2004 on behalf of the Arvizos he filed a claim with the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, seeking monetary damages, because the DCFS’s report from February 20, 2003 got leaked to the public.
On November 18, 2003 an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Jackson based on Gavin Arvizo's allegations. Jackson at the time was in Las Vegas, but at the news of his arrest he returned to California and turned himself in. He was then released on a 3 million dollar bail. The same day, in Jackson’s absence, 70 sheriffs raided his home, the Neverland Ranch, to carry out a search warrant.
The Prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) document, on which the search and arrest warrants were based on reasoned the request for the warrants as follows:
"The mere fact of forty-five-year-old Jackson's three-year-long interest in the adolescent Gavin is corroborating in itself; it would strike a reasonable person as grossly abnormal. So is the way that interest manifested itself: endless telephone conversations with the youngster, inappropriate and relatively public touching, kissing, licking and cuddling of him; expensive gifts, cross-country flights, the relocation of the family from their modest quarters in Los Angeles, his efforts to have them take up residence in Brazil." (page 66)
As you have seen above in reality Jackson did not have a „three-year-long interest in the adolescent Gavin” and „endless telephone conversations with the youngster”. In actuality, Gavin himself complained on the stand that Jackson was actively avoiding him during those three years and did not take and return his phone calls. The so called inappropriate „public touching, kissing, licking and cuddling” was conveniently always only observed by other members of the Arvizo family and there were no independent witnesses to confirm them. (For details see this article [link].) As for expensive gifts, Jackson was generous with everyone. The only cross-country flight (there were no cross-country flights in plural) took place on February 5-6 where the Arvizo family was invited to Miami for a press conference which eventually was called off (see above) and the claim about an attempt to relocate the family „to have them take up residence in Brazil” is also a gross misrepresentation of what really happened (again see earlier in this article).
The case went to Court in 2005 and Jackson was found not guilty on all charges on June 13, 2005. We discuss the details of the case in seperate articles.
What I plan to do is a four part series:
1) A general outline of the events leading up to the allegations
2) The Changing Content of the Allegations and Contradictions
3) The Conspiracy Charge
4) Credibility issues with the accuser and the family
I'm able to do the content and I already wrote the first two parts. My problem is, however, that I'm not native English speaker so I need grammar and style correction in these articles so that it becomes presentable in a website to the general public. So I ask native English speakers or those who have native level English knowledge to help me with correcting my articles grammatically and stylistically. But if you have comments or suggestions about the content please feel free to share those as well.
So here is Part 1:
A general outline of the events leading up to the allegations
In this section we give a general outline of the Arvizo case and mainly about the events leading up to the allegations and how and when the allegations emerged. The exact content of the Arvizo family’s allegations, the contradictions and changes in them, the timeline and its changes and the credibility issues with the Arvizo family and other issues of the case will be discussed in detail in separate articles.
The events leading up to the allegations
An introduction of the Arvizo family and how their relationship with Michael Jackson started
Michael Jackson first met his later accuser, Gavin Arvizo and the boy’s family in the summer of 2000. At the time the then 10-year-old Gavin was in hospital with a rare type of cancer that affected his kidney and spleen. His doctors removed one of his kidneys and his spleen and began chemotherapy.
Gavin was a big fan of comedians and before his illness he went to comedy classes at the Laugh Factory which is a comedy club in Hollywood owned by the comedian, Jamie Masada. In the club Gavin and his family made friends with several comedians such as Masada, George Lopez, Louise Palanker and Chris Tucker. When Gavin became ill Masada visited him in the hospital several times. Gavin asked him to help him meet certain celebrities, and one day he asked to meet Michael Jackson. Masada testified at Jackson’s trial that he did not personally know Michael Jackson, but he somehow managed to contact his people and tell them about Gavin’s request. Jackson called the boy in the hospital and they talked for about five minutes, according to Gavin’s testimony in 2005. During the conversation Jackson invited Gavin and his family to his Neverland Ranch. According to Gavin’s 2005 testimony Jackson called him about 20 other times during his illness - sometimes in the hospital, sometimes in his grandmother’s home where Gavin lived at the time in a sterile room.
After the first round of Gavin’s chemotherapy the Arvizo family went to Neverland in August 2000. The family at the time consisted of Gavin, his older sister Davellin, his one year younger brother Star, their mother Janet Arvizo and their father David Arvizo. They all went on that Neverland visit.
On that first visit Gavin and Star slept in Jackson’s bedroom. This is the night that is referenced in the 2003 Bashir documentary that caused big public uproar, even though both Gavin and Jackson made it clear that while the kids slept on the bed, Jackson slept on the floor:
“Gavin: There was one night, I asked him if I could stay in his bedroom. He let me stay in the bedroom. And I was like, ‘Michael you can sleep in the bed’, and he was like ‘No, no, you sleep on the bed’, and I was like ‘No, no, no, you sleep on the bed’, and then he said ‘Look, if you love me, you’ll sleep in the bed’. I was like ‘Oh mannnn?” so I finally slept on the bed. But it was fun that night.
Jackson: I slept on the floor. Was it a sleeping bag?
Gavin: You packed the whole mess of blankets on the floor.” [1]
What is not mentioned in the documentary is the fact that not only Jackson did not sleep in the same bed as Gavin and Star, but he also insisted on his personal assistant, Frank Cascio (also called Frank Tyson sometimes) to sleep in the room as well. Jackson’s own children, 3-year-old Prince and 2-year old Paris (Blanket was not yet born), were there as well and slept on the bed with the Arvizo kids, while the two adult men, Jackson and Cascio, slept on the floor.
Cascio recalled the situation in his 2011 book, My Friend Michael:
“Then came the night when Gavin and his brother Star pleaded with Michael to allow them to sleep with him. “Can we sleep in your room tonight? Can we sleep in your bed tonight?” the boys begged. “My mother said it’s okay, if it’s okay with you,” Gavin added. Michael, who always had a hard time saying no to kids, replied, “Sure, no problem.” But then he came to me. “She’s pushing her kids onto me,” he said, visibly concerned. He had a strange, uncomfortable feeling about it. “Frank, they can’t stay.”
[...]
I went to the kids and said, “Michael has to sleep. I’m sorry, you can’t stay in his room.” Gavin and Star kept begging, I kept saying no, and then Janet [Arvizo - the mother] said to Michael, “They really want to stay with you. It’s okay with me.” Michael relented. He didn’t want to let the kids down. His heart got in the way, but he was fully aware of the risk. He said to me, “Frank, if they’re staying in my room, you’re staying with me. I don’t trust this mother. She’s ****ed up.” I was totally against it, but I said, “All right. We do what we have to do.” Having me there as a witness would safeguard Michael against any shady ideas that the Arvizos might have been harboring. Or so we were both naive enough to think.”
The fact that Cascio and Jackson’s children were in the room as well was not disputed by the Arvizos in Court, nor did they claim any molestation or attempt at molestation occuring that night. They claimed the acts of molestation happened almost three years later, in February-March 2003, AFTER the Bashir documentary aired and WHILE Santa Barbara authorities and child protective services were investigating Jackson because of the Bashir documentary. We will discuss this timeline later in this article and in more detail in a separate article.
There was one disputed element of this night, though. In Court in 2005 the Arvizos accused Jackson and Cascio of showing them adult heterosexual pornography on a laptop computer that Jackson gave to Gavin as a gift that day. Both Jackson and Cascio denied showing any such material to the children. We will address this allegation in our article about certain details of the Arvizo’s case.
According to Gavin’s own testimony, after this one occasion at Neverland he and his family did not have much contact with Jackson until the fall of 2002, when they were called back for the Bashir documentary. They were allowed to go to Neverland, and they did at least 7-10 times during that period, but most of the time Jackson was not even there and when he was, he actively avoided the Arvizos. From Gavin’s testimony at Jackson’s 2005 trial:
Q. And on those occasions when Mr. Jackson was on the ranch, did you have any contact with him ?
A. Those two occasions, yeah. But, I mean, like, sometimes I would go up to the ranch and he would say that he ‘s not there , and then he would be there .
Q. What do you mean by that?
A. Like, when I would have cancer. I don‘t know what happened, but Michael, like, kind of stopped talking to me and stuff, right in the middle of my cancer. And, like, I would go up there, and I would see, like, Prince and Paris playing there , and I would think that Michael was there, and they would tell me that Michael wasn’t there. And then , like, I would see him somewhere, and — I don’t know.
Q. Was there one occasion when you actually ran into him by accident ?
A. Yeah.
Q. Tell the jury about that.
A. Well, I was playing with Prince and Paris outside, like in the back of the house near where the arcade was . And then we were walking into the — into the main house . And I knew the code, because they would give me the codes. And then I walked in the door with Prince in my hand and Paris in my other hand, and — we were holding hands. And then we walked into the house and there I saw Michael walking, like, toward me . But I guess he didn’t see me turn the corner . And then he acted as if , “Oh, crap,” you know what I mean? Like, he saw me. And then — then he just played it off and , like, acted like, “Oh, hi, Doo-Doo Head.” You know, at the time I — I was kind of hypnotized and, like, he ‘s my –
MR . MESEREAU: Objection; calls for a narrative and non responsive.
THE COURT : Sustained .
Q. BY MR . SNEDDON : Okay.
A. And then , like –
Q. That’s all right. I’ll give you a question. So in any case , you bumped into him ?
A. Yeah. And I was — because of –
Q. That’s okay . How much more contact did you have with him on that time when you bumped into him? How much time did the contact last?
A. I didn’t really see him through my cancer a lot.
Q. I mean, you told the ladies and gentlemen of the jury there was an occasion where you were there when you kind of bumped into him by accident ?
A. Yeah.
Q. When you actually made contact with him - okay? – how long did that last? Just — how long was the conversation between the two of you?
A. Maybe , like , five minutes. When — that time we bumped into each other, and then we just talked about — and stuff, and he said he had to go somewhere.
On cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas Meserau Gavin again complained about Jackson avoiding him and said that no other celebrity he befriended ever did that to him:
Q. Can you look this jury in eye and tell them Michael Jackson did nothing for you when you had cancer.
A. I never said Michael did nothing for me.
Q. Did you say he did very little.
A. Yeah. He didn’t do as much as I felt, as my 11-year-old mind felt.
Q. He should.
A. No. He shouldn’t -- it’s not his obligation to do anything.
Q. Well, are you telling the jury you deserved a lot more from Michael Jackson than you and your family got.
A. No.
Q. Is that what you’re saying.
A. No. I’m just saying that -- see, when I have a friend, Michael, and you’re saying all these things that he did, but, you know, when my 11-year-old mind -- and when I see my friend say that he’s not there, and he’s not at Neverland Ranch trying -- and I see him walking and I see his car that he only drives going down at Neverland, you know, it felt like my heart broke right there.
Q. So by doing all of these things --
A. And I don’t remember George Lopez or Jamie Masada or Louise Palanker ever doing that to me.
Gavin also complained on the stand that Jackson changed his phone numbers and became unavailable to them.
Q. And at some point you complained to the sheriffs that Mr. Jackson had changed his phone numbers after you visited the Hilton, right.
A. Well, that was the only phone number I left -- or I called -- well, I’m not sure. Because the only phone number that never changed was Evvy’s [Evvy Tavasci – Jackson’s secretary at the time] phone number. And I would call her and I would ask her sometimes where Michael was or something. And then -- and I had the phone number to his hotel, so I think I called him at his hotel and asked him if I could go visit him. I think it was around -- I’m not sure when exactly.
Q. When did you first get upset about your phone numbers for Michael Jackson not working.
A. Maybe around the third or fourth chemotherapy round I called his numbers and it would be, like, “This phone number is no longer in service.” Or sometimes it would just ring and it wouldn’t never -- no one would ever pick up or something like that.
[…]
Q. Well, you’ve indicated that you were upset that the phone numbers you had for Mr. Jackson at some point didn’t work, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And the phone numbers you had for Mr. Jackson began to not work after it appeared that your cancer was in remission, correct.
A. No, I said they stopped working after my third or fourth chemotherapy round.
Q. Okay. Before that, could you easily call him.
A. Yes.
Q. And before that, did you often call him.
A. Yes. And he would call me and stuff. We would talk -- we talked a lot more before then.
Q. In fact, you called him at the Universal -- Hilton Universal the day you visited, right.
A. I believe so. I’m not too sure how it came about.
and
Q. Okay. Now, you complained to the Santa Barbara Sheriffs that, “After I was done with my cancer stuff,” you never saw Michael again, right.
A. No, not until the Martin Bashir thing.
Q. Okay. And you wanted to see him after you were in remission, correct.
A. Yes.
Q. You wanted to visit Neverland after you were in remission, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And you felt in some way that Michael had cut off the friendship, right.
A. Yes.
Q. You felt he had abandoned you, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And you felt he had abandoned your family, right.
A. Yes.
To not to lose contact with Jackson the Arvizo family started to bombard him with nice letters and cards:
Q. And approximately when do you think he wasn’t talking to you anymore.
A. Two months into my cancer.
Q. Excuse me.
A. Two months into my chemotherapy.
Q. Approximately when would that be.
A. August or September of 2000.
Q. Okay. So August or September of 2000, you and your family started sending nice letters and cards to Michael Jackson, correct.
A. Yes.
Q. And those are the letters and cards that I showed you a little while ago, right.
A. Yes.
Q. And it was your understanding your mother used to send him cards and letters as well, right.
A. I think so.
While Jackson personally kept his distance from the family, he did things to help them. In October, 2000 Jackson gave the family a white van as a gift. He also allowed the Arvizos to use Neverland for a blood drive for Gavin and all his employees donated blood.
In the Spring of 2001 Gavin's biological father and mother, David and Janet Arvizo seperated - according to Janet Arvizo’s 2005 testimony because David physically abused her and the children.
In the Summer of 2001 both the laptop and the van Jackson gave the Arvizos the previous year had broken down and the family sent them back to Jackson to have them repaired. According to the Arvizos they never saw any of them again.
On September 24, 2001 the Arvizo family reached an out of court settlement with the J. C. Penney department store. The subject of the case was an allegation by the Arvizo family that in 1998 J.C. Penney guards beat up Janet, David, Gavin and Star Arvizo in a parking lot and they sexually abused Janet Arvizo. The guards followed the family in the parking lot because Gavin was caught stealing two school uniforms and two school uniform pants. The Arvizos then managed to turn it around into a physical and sexual abuse lawsuit against the J. C. Penney guards. At Jackson’s 2005 trial evidence and testimony showed that the family lied under oath in depositions in that case. We will discuss the details of this case in a separate article.
In the Spring of 2002 the Arvizos spent a few days at Neverland with the actor Chris Tucker to celebrate the birthday of latter's infant son. Jackson was not present.
Martin Bashir’s documentary, “Living with Michael Jackson”
In the Summer-Autumn of 2002 British journalist and television host Martin Bashir worked on a documentary with Michael Jackson entitled “Living with Michael Jackson”. During the creation of that documentary Bashir suggested to Jackson that in the film he could show the public how the singer helped children with serious illnesses. Jackson presented Bashir with two examples: the story of David Rothenberg (“Dave Dave”) who was badly burned by his father when he was a child in the 1980s. Jackson took it upon himself to help Rothenberg throughout his life. Here is Rothenberg talking about Michael Jackson after Jackson’s death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En5Q4syywcw
The other option offered was the cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo. By 2002 Rothenberg was an adult and Bashir chose to go with the still 13-year-old Gavin instead, so they invited him and his siblings, Star and Davellin to the set - even though Rothenberg was present as well, according to Gavin's testimony:
Q. Okay. Did you ever meet this person who was burned.
A. Yeah, I think Michael introduced me to him.
Q. And when was this.
A. Around the same time as the Martin Bashir thing.
Q. Was it at Neverland.
A. Yes.
Q. Did you talk to this person.
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember the person’s name.
A. I think his name might have been David.
Q. Was it Rothenberg.
A. I don’t know.
Q. Was this a young man that you learned’s father had poured gasoline on him and set him o fire.
A. I don’t know.
Q. Okay.
A. I think that’s what happened.
Q. And he was supposed to be in the film with you, right.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And correct me if I’m wrong, you discussed with Michael the fact that Michael had helped this young boy, right.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Did you talk to this young boy about what he had experienced.
A. No.
Q. Okay. Did you ever see him.
A. Yes.
Q. And please describe for the jury what he looked like.
A. He looked like he was really badly burned and he had like -- he was like a rocker. He was wearing, like, rocker stuff. And he was burned. And he had like only a few hairs on his head because I guess it covered all the pores when he was burned.
Q. Did you and he appear in the film, if you know.
A. Later I watched it, and then -- well, I watched my part, and then I don’t think he was in there.
Q. Okay. But was he at Neverland the day you were filmed.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. Did you meet him shortly after you arrived.
A. Yes.
The shooting of the scene with Gavin and his two siblings took place in September 2002. Janet Arvizo later said that she was not aware at the time that her children would appear in the documentary.
Jackson trusted that Bashir had no hidden agenda in how he presented his relationship with Gavin and out of naivety and guilelessness allowed himself to be filmed showing affection to Gavin and holding his hand while the boy leaned his head on his shoulder. Bashir exploited Jackson’s poor judgement in public relations and drew him into a discussion of whether it was acceptable to share a bedroom with a child.
When the documentary aired in February 2003 this segment caused a storm of bad publicity for Jackson and wild speculations about the nature of his relationship with Gavin Arvizo. In reality, as you have seen above, there was no close relationship between Jackson and Gavin, and since 2000 they hardly even met as Jackson did not seem to trust him and his family and kept his distance from them.
Throughout the documentary Bashir uses suggestive and highly manipulative narration and it seems that his intention from the beginning was to create and feed in innuendo about Jackson’s relationship with children. Even Gavin admitted in his 2005 testimony that Bashir’s portrayal of Jackson in the documentary was false.
After the shooting of the scene the Arvizo children stayed at the ranch for one night, but Jackson immediately left after the segment and he was again unavailable to Gavin:
Q. At that point, could you reach Michael Jackson by telephone if you wanted to.
A. No, after the Martin Bashir thing, he didn’t give me any phone numbers, because he left, like, either the same day or the day after the Martin Bashir interview, and I didn’t really get any other phone numbers.
The fallout resulting from the Bashir documentary and damage control by Jackson’s PR team
The Arvizos had not met Jackson again until after the Bashir documentary aired in the UK on February 3, 2003 and then in the US on February 6, 2003. As a result of the documentary the media went into a frenzy, the 1993 allegations againts Jackson were rehashed in articles and talk shows. On February 6 someone illegally leaked Jordan Chandler’s 1993 declaration to the media to further antagonize the public against Jackson. The media also tried to “hunt down” the Arvizo family.
Jackson’s team tried to fight this negative publicity and decided to hold a press conference with the Arvizo family in Miami on February 5 or 6, 2003. The press conference eventually was called off, but the Arvizos did travel to Miami with actor Chris Tucker to participate in it in support of Jackson. Jackson and the Arvizos then returned to Neverland on February 7-8. The family remained there, on and off, until March 12.
The crucial period: February 7-March 12, 2003
In the hindsight, when they made their allegations, the Arvizos claimed that during this period, February 7-March 12, 2003, they were kept captive at Neverland against their will. This allegation is what the conspiracy charge deals with and we will discuss it in detail in another article. During their alleged captivity the Arvizos went shopping several times, visited a lawyer, talked to Child Protective Services because of the Bashir documentary and appeared in a Court regarding a child support debate, yet they never reported to authorities that they were allegedly being kidnapped and held against their will at Neverland. The claim was that Jackson supposedly kept them captive to force them to participate in the so called “rebuttal video”.
Jackson’s team was trying to do damage control regarding the Bashir documentary and they were working on a so called “rebuttal video” which was released on February 20, 2003 as Michael Jackson, Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See. This documentary features footage made by Jackson’s own cameraman Hamid Moslehi during the shooting of the Bashir documentary and it features material that Bashir deliberately omitted, shows his manipulation of Jackson and also features interviews with other people, for example with Jackson’s ex-wife, Debbie Rowe. Initially the Arvizos would have been featured in this documentary as well, but at the end their segment was not included. However, the footage that was made for this documentary with the Arvizo family was shot and later found by the prosecution when they searched Moslehi’s home during the Jackson investigation. As a result the Arvizos, - with the prosecution’s assistance - were forced to change their initial timeline of the allegations.
Initially the Arvizos claimed the molestation started as soon as they returned from Miami with Jackson, on February 7. Their segment of the „rebuttal video” however was shot on February 20. In it they are seen laughing and joking, happily praising Michael Jackson. They also express their displeasure with Martin Bashir. In the hindsight they tried to claim they were under duress, but behind the scenes footage showed them not only laughing and joking, but even making suggestions themselves about what they wanted to do on film. They certainly do not seem to be forced or under duress by any means. The resulting timeline change was not just a minor correction. It significantly changed the narrative of the Arvizo’s initial story as we will discuss later in this article (and in detail in a separate article).
The Arvizo segment from the so called „rebuttal video” which eventually was not used in the Take Two documentary, but later became significant at Jackson’s trial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bez7QCXJJV4
Behind the scenes footage shows the family laughing and joking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUlDSoPzLLs
On February 20, the same day as the Arvizo’s segment for the “rebuttal video” was shot they also got a visit from the The Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) (also mentioned as Child Protective Services – CPS). They interviewed the Arvizo family because a teacher from Gavin’s school filed a complaint over the claim in the Bashir documentary that Gavin had slept in Jackson’s bed. Again, the Arvizos said nothing but positive things about Jackson. They denied molestation and never claimed that they had been supposedly “kidnapped”. In actuality, this meeting with the DCFS took place in Major Jay Jackson’s (no relation to Michael Jackson) home who was Janet Arvizo’s boyfriend at the time and later her husband.
To explain why they did not tell anything negative about Michael Jackson to the DCFS the Arvizos had several versions of their story: initially they tried to claim it was because Jackson and his people intimidated them. According to the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) document on August 13, 2003 Gavin told them:
"Gavin was asked why he did not disclose anything to the CPS people. He said by then they were really afraid of Frank (Cascio) and Michael." (page 60)
His brother Star too claimed on the same day that the reason why they had not disclosed anything to the DCFS was intimidation by Jackson and his people:
"When asked during the CPS interview why he did not disclose anything about what was going on with Michael's people and Michael himself, Star replied that Michael had scared them by threatening them that he was going to kill them. He then clarified that it was not Michael that actually made the threat, but "Michael's people." He was asked if he was personally threatened or if he heard a threat, and he said yes. Frank told him that if Star didn't protect Michael, something bad would happen to the family. The threat was made at the snack area of the theater at Neverland. He was the only one there at the moment. Frank made another threat a couple days before the CPS meeting. Star was asked if Frank knew that they would be meeting with the ladies from the Child Welfare Services, and he said yes. When Star was asked why he thought Frank had made that threat, he said, "Because he already knew what Michael did to us." If they had told the truth, Michael would have gone to jail. " (page 51-52)
and
"He is sure he did not say anything bad about Michael (to the CPS), because he was scared." (page 52)
This is, however, totally contradictory with the later version of the Arvizos’ story, in which they claimed that the molestation started happening only AFTER the DCFS’s visit and that is why they did not disclose anything to them. In actuality, in 2005 in Court Gavin testified – according to the latest version of their story - that on February 20, when they shot the “rebuttal video” and when they were interviewed by the DCFS, they still considered Jackson to be a good person and they had no problem praising him. Under cross-examination by Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, the boy stated that most of the things that they said in the “rebuttal video” reflected their true feelings about the entertainer at the time. He talked about some lies that they told – allegedly at the request of one of Jackson’s people, Dieter Wiesner – but these were only exaggerations about how much Jackson was really there for him during his cancer or how much part he really played in his healing. However, on contrary with his and his brother’s earlier statements to the police, on the stand Gavin clearly stated that when they made the ”rebuttal video” they still felt that Jackson was a great person. Gavin also said that he had a good time at Neverland and did not give the impression they were intimidated by anything there:
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Okay. It wasn’t until you realized you were not going to be part of Michael Jackson’s family, you were not going to meet Michael Jackson in Brazil, you were not going to be going to Neverland, that you ever came up with these allegations of molestation, right.
A. I didn’t come and talk to the -- to the -- my mom always wanted to leave. She was the one that was able to realize and get us out of there. I liked being there.
and
Q. I see. So you went into town with Michael Jackson, correct.
A. Yeah. Michael took us to Toys R Us.
Q. You picked up some fans, correct, on the way.
A. Yeah, Michael invited some people into our -- the thing.
Q. You never complained to anyone in the store or any of these fans that anyone was being held against their will, correct.
A. I was actually happy to be at Neverland all the time.
Q. And you were happy to go --
A. That’s something you don’t really understand, is that the majority of those times was -- the first few escapes that you talk about, I liked being at Neverland. That was like Disneyland. I loved being there. I had lots of fun. I mean, my mom was the one always worried. It wasn’t until the last time that I realized “I don’t want to be here.”
Q. Your mother was worried, but she always came back, right. Right.
A. I guess so.
These last two lines are a reference to the Arvizos’ claim that during their alleged “kidnapping” they “escaped” three times, but then they always returned.
The first alleged “escape” happened shortly after they returned from Miami on February 7. One night Janet Arvizo asked Jackson's ranch manager, Jesus Salas to take them home to Los Angeles, which he did. Moreover according to Janet Arvizo's own claims in her police interview on July 6-7, 2003, Marie Nicole Cascio assisted them in their "escape":
"She described running in the dark through Neverland, being led by Marie Nicole, to find her way to the car. Mrs. Arvizo was unable to recall exact dates of events during this period. She stated that there were no clocks or calendars at Neverland and she would lose track of the date." (page 25)
Marie Nicole Cascio is the sister of Frank Cascio, who allagedly was one of the main culprits in the Arvizos’ “kidnapping”.
Janet Arvizo explained her “escaping” with the fact that she did not like two of Jackson’s people, Dieter Wiesner and Ronald Konitzer, whom she called “the Germans”, and felt intimidated by them. After Frank Cascio promised her that the Germans would not be at Neverland any more, she and her children returned. However, the Germans were still at Neverland, so Janet Arvizo “escaped” again, this time on her own, leaving her children behind, asking Jackson’s bodyguard, Chris Carter to take her to Jay Jackson’s house, which he did. Both of these alleged “escapes” happened within a couple of days after they returned from Miami on February 7. The third occasion that was characterized as an “escape” by Janet Arvizo when the Arvizos left Neverland for good. Once again the “escape” was not met with much resistance from Jackson’s people – in fact, Janet Arvizo just asked Vinnie Amen, Frank Cascio’s friend and closest colleague, one of the Arvizos’ alleged “kidnappers”, to take them to the home of Janet Arvizo’s parents and he did.
Jackson and his people apparently were suspicious of the Arvizos and of how they may use the media frenzy resulting from the Bashir documentary for their benefit. The media at this point tried to contact the Arvizos and Jackson already had experience with the practices of the tabloid media and what the temptation of tabloid money can make people claim (see this article). The fact that Jackson did not trust this family from the beginning is apparent from the fact that he tried to keep his distance from them, as discribed by even Gavin himself in Court.
In fact, not long after the Bashir documentary aired Jackson hired attorney, Mark Geragos. Bradley Miller, a private investigator working for Geragos, conducted and tape recorded an interview with Janet Arvizo in Jay Jackson's home on February 16. On the tape Janet Arvizo does not mention she or her children being “kidnapped” or being held captive by either Jackson or his people, nor any other wrongdoing by Jackson. In fact she says nothing but nice things about him. In Court in 2005 Janet Arvizo said of that interview:
Q. All right. And you said nice things about Mr. Jackson, did you not?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. And did you believe those things at that time?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. You would have said those things even if he hadn’t rewound the tape-recorder?
A. That’s right.
Like said before, the Arvizos’ story changed over the course of the investigation. Initially they claimed that Jackson started molesting Gavin immediately after they returned from Miami on February 7. This is also represented in the prosecution's initial felony complaint, filed on December 18, 2003 (link). In interviews they gave to the police in 2003 the Arvizos claimed that they told nice things about Jackson in their interview with the DCFS and the „rebuttal video” (both on February 20) because they were under duress and intimidated by Jackson’s people. However, with the emergence of the „rebuttal tape” that was shot of the Arvizo family by Hamid Moslehi, this claim became hard to defend, so the story later changed to the molestation starting only after February 20 - after the shooting of the „rebuttal video” and after the Arvizo’s interview with the DCFS. In the new version of their story, and this was the version they presented in Court, the Arvizos did not tell the DCFS simply because no molestation had happened yet on February 20 and not because they were intimidated by Jackson and/or his people, as they initially claimed.
It was not only the DCFS that started an investigation against Jackson because of the Bashir documentary. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department too launched an investigation in February 2003 based on a complaint by psychiatrist Dr. Carol Lieberman - again, because of the Bashir documentary. This investigation continued until April, 2003.
(Dr. Lieberman is the same psychiatrist who together with attorney and TV personality Gloria Allred also filed complaints against Jackson for the so called “baby dangling incident” and campaigned for Jackson’s children to be taken away from him. Then later in 2003 Allred represented a 18-year-old young men, Daniel Kapon, who claimed he had been sexually molested by Michael Jackson when he was a child. Kapon claimed he had “repressed memories” of the molestation and therefore only recently recalled the abuse. It was Dr. Lieberman who "helped" bring forth his "repressed memories". During an investigation into the matter by the Santa Barbara Police Department it emerged that in reality Kapon never even met Jackson. For details about Kapon see this article [link].)
So in the latest version of their story the Arvizos’ claim was that Jackson molested Gavin between February 20 and March 12, 2003 (see the prosecution’s final charges – link). So the Arvizos’ story is that while all this was happening - public outrage because of the Bashir documentary, innuendo and allegations in the media about Jackson’s relationship with children – and specifically Gavin - as a result of the Bashir documentary, high media interest, tabloids trying to „hunt down” the Arvizo family, DCFS investigation, another investigation by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, Jackson’s PR and legal team working overtime on damage control because of the public relations backlash resulting from the Bashir documentary and its innuendo – all WHILE this is happening Jackson starts molesting Gavin Arvizo, even though for three years he has not touched him and obviusly not even trusted him and his family. And even though he had not molested Gavin until all these investigations by the DCFS and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department started, but he started to molest him WHILEthese investigations were ongoing.
THIS is exactly what the Arvizo family claimed, this is exactly their story that you have to believe in order to believe their allegations! (Among several other problems with their case that we detail in seperate articles.)
The Arvizos left Neverland for good on March 12, so according to their final version of the allegations Jackson molested Gavin between February 20 and March 12, 2003. In actuality, this period becomes even shorter when whe know that between February 25 and March 2 the Arvizos were not at Neverland but stayed in a hotel in Calabasas. Moreover phone logs presented by the prosecution towards the end of the presentation of their side of the case inadverently revealed that in early March Jackson stayed a few days at the Beverly Hilton hotel using the pseudonym Kenneth Morgan (as celebrities often use pseudonyms to avoid attention). From the logs it appears he was there at least on March 7-8, but possibly also on March 6, while the Arvizos were at Neverland. Based on the phone logs it also seems on February 20 Jackson was at the Turnberry Isle Resort in Miami, Florida. The testimony of Azja Pryor (Chris Tucker’s girlfriend at the time) confirms that Jackson was not at Neverland on February 20.
On February 21 Janet Arvizo first visited civil attorney William Dickerman. Janet Arvizo denied this in her testimony, but Dickerman in his own testimony stated they first met on February 21. Then they met again on February 25 – on this both testimonies agreed. This was during the Arvizos’ supposed "kidnap", yet Janet Arvizo did not mention being kidnapped or being held captive to the lawyer on any occasion, nor did the lawyer report any such thing to any authority. According to Janet Arvizo she contacted Dickerman because she wanted him to stop the media from using her children's likeness and photos in their publications and on their programs.
Around this time there were plans to take the Arvizos to Brazil for a vacation (possibly to keep them away from the media). This was later characterized by the Arvizos and the prosecution as an attempt to deport them, when in reality travel documents presented in Court showed that they were supposed to stay in Brazil for only a one week vacation. From Janet Arvizo's cross-examination:
Q. Well, the itinerary says you’re leaving Los Angeles for Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 1st, 2003, right?
A. Okay.
Q. It says you’re returning from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Miami on March 6th, 2003, correct?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. And it says you’re leaving Miami for Los Angeles on March 7th, 2003, correct?
A. Uh-huh.
According to the testimony of Azja Pryor, girlfriend of the actor Chris Tucker at the time, far from being forced, at the time Janet Arvizo was looking forward to the trip and even invited her:
Q. Did Janet ever mention a trip to Brazil to you?
A. Yes.
Q. What did she say?
A. She said that they --
MR. SNEDDON: I’ll object as hearsay.
MR. MESEREAU: Impeachment, Your Honor.
THE COURT: The objection’s overruled.
THE WITNESS: She said that they were going to Brazil for Carnivale.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: And what is Carnivale, to your knowledge?
A. Beautiful costumes, beads. I guess it’s kind of like Mardi Gras.
Q. Kind of a holiday celebration, right?
A. A holiday celebration.
Q. Did she ever ask you to go with her?
A. Yes, she did.
Q. And when did Janet ask you to go to Brazil with her to attend Carnivale?
A. During a phone conversation. It was sometime in February.
Q. Okay. And did you say anything in response to her invitation?
A. I said, “Sure, I’d love to go.”
Q. And did you ever talk to her about Brazil again?
A. Yeah, we talked a couple of times about Brazil.
Q. And did you talk about your going with her?
A. I’m sure -- I’m sure I did. I told her I couldn’t go for too long. I was in school at the time, so I would only be able to be there for, like, three or four days.
Q. Did she say that was okay?
A. Yes.
Eventually the whole trip was called off and never happened.
On March 2 the family went back again to Neverland and stayed there until March 12 when they left for good. Like mentioned above, this was characterized by Janet Arvizo in her 2005 testimony as their final „escape”. In actuality, she told Frank Cascio on the phone that her parents were sick and she would like her children to see them. Then Vinnie Amen delivered them to their parents’ home and that was it. This was the big „escape”.
Lawyers being hired and the formation of the allegations
On March 24, 2003 Janet Arvizo formally hired William Dickerman as her attorney and Dickerman began writing letters to Jackson’s attorney, Mark Geragos on her behalf demanding the return of furniture, clothes, documents and various other items which were put in a storage locker after the Arvizos moved out of their Los Angeles apartment on March 1-2. The storage locker was rented in Bradley Miller’s name. There were numerous back and forth letters between the two attorneys about the issue of where and how the Arvizos would take possession of their belongings and who would pay the outstanding bill of the storage locker.
In his letters Dickerman also claimed that Jackson’s people harrassed and followed around the Arvizo family after they left Neverland. However, nowhere in his letters there are claims of child molestation, claims of false inprisonment or claims of providing alcohol to a minor. From William Dickerman’s cross-examination by Jackson’s attorney, Thomas Mesereau:
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Nowhere in this letter of March 26th that you wrote to Mr. Geragos on behalf of the Arvizos is there any mention of alcohol, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. Now, in this letter of March 26th to Mr. Geragos, there is no mention of the Arvizo family ever being falsely imprisoned, correct?
A. I believe that’s correct.
Q. And in this letter of March 26th to Attorney Mark Geragos, there’s no mention of the Arvizo family ever being kidnapped, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. In this letter of March 26th, 2003, to Mr. Geragos that you wrote, there’s no mention of any extortion, right?
A. I believe that’s correct. I haven’t read this word for word, but it sounds right.
Q. Okay. When you sent this letter to Mr. Geragos on March 26th, 2003, two days after you had been retained by the Arvizos, did you ever call the police to complain about false imprisonment, kidnapping, molestation or alcohol?
A. No.
and
Q. In that letter, you never mention anything about molestation, correct?
A. That’s correct. The only purpose of the letter was to get the items that I had written about before.
Q. In the April 3rd letter, 2003, you mention nothing about alcohol, correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. You mention nothing about false imprisonment, correct?
A. Correct.
Q. You mention nothing about any alleged kidnapping, correct?
A. That is correct.
Q. You mentioning nothing about any alleged extortion, correct?
A. Correct.
Dickerman never mentioned any such complaint in his verbal communication with Geragos either:
Q. Now, in all of these conversations you had with Mark Geragos on behalf of the Arvizos, at no time did you mention to him anything about child molestation, correct?
A. Well, I don’t think I had more than one or two conversations.
Q. And you never mentioned anything about child molestation, correct?
A. That’s correct. That wasn’t the purpose of the communication.
Q. You never mentioned anything about wine allegedly being given to any of the Arvizo children, correct?
A. Correct. There was no reason to do that.
According to his own testimony, in early May of 2003 William Dickerman entered into a fee-sharing agreement with attorney, Larry Feldman. Feldman in his own testimony confirmed that they had fee-sharing agreement, although he suggested it came about a little bit later („not right at the beginning”), but he did not specify when.
Larry Feldman was the same civil attorney who negotiated the $15 million settlement for the Chandlers, the family of Jackson’s first accuser in 1993-94. According to the Arvizos’ later story at this time Gavin had not yet disclosed his alleged abuse to anyone, including his mother or Dickerman, so at this time there were no allegations of child sexual abuse by the Arvizos yet. So why would Dickerman refer them to the same attorney who dealt with the first child abuse allegation against Jackson in 1993-94? In his 2005 testimony he explained it this way:
Q. All right. Did you file a lawsuit on behalf of Janet Arvizo or her family?
A. No.
Q. At some point in time, did you refer this matter to another attorney?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Who was that other attorney?
A. Larry Feldman.
Q. And why did you do that?
A. Excuse me. I began representing the Arvizos in February. And by the time I met with Mr. Feldman, it was the beginning of May. In that period of time I had learned a lot of things. There were a lot of allegations being made, and I realized that the best thing for my clients to do, and for me personally as their attorney, was to get some expert input as to matters of Michael Jackson. The initial things I didn’t think I really needed to do that with, but as things developed, I wanted to get some input. So I met with Mr. Feldman, whom, by the way, I knew — not “by the way.” It was very important. I knew that he was – by reputation, he was one of the top trial lawyers in California, if not the United States. And actually, previously, not knowing him except by reputation, I had referred a case to him, tried to refer a case to him that I could not handle for various reasons of an old client of mine. And I knew that he was the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters. Of course, I knew about the 1993 case, so I met with him, with the idea of picking his brain, actually, not to refer any matters to him. And afterwards, he met with them, and they — we all associated together. The Arvizos hired both him and me.
Q. All right. Have you filed a lawsuit as of this time on behalf of the Arvizos or anybody else?
A. No.
Q. Is it the case that the extent of your dealings with them so far, in terms of your communicating with others, has been for purposes of getting their property returned or dealing with the consequences of “Living with Michael Jackson,” the documentary?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have an understanding with Mr. Feldman that should there be a lawsuit in the future, that –
THE COURT: They’re not hearing you.
MR. ZONEN: I’m sorry?
THE COURT: Behind; these people can’t hear you.
MR. ZONEN: I’m terribly sorry.
Q. Is there an arrangement that, should there be a lawsuit in the future, that there would be compensation for you in any form of a settlement even if you’re not participating in that lawsuit? Do you know what I mean?
A. Well, we have an agreement.
Q. Okay.
A. It doesn’t say anything about participation or not. We were retained together, and I have a fee-sharing arrangement with Mr. Feldman.
Q. Which means what?
A. Which means I will get — if there is such a lawsuit anytime in the future, that I will be entitled to a sliding scale, depending on whether there’s a settlement or a judgment.
Q. Okay. What kind of lawsuit do you anticipate?
A. I don’t anticipate any lawsuit. My understanding is that there isn’t one in the offing. Nobody’s talking about one. And I suppose if there were to be one — well, that would be speculation.
It is not clear what Dickerman refers to when he says: "In that period of time I had learned a lot of things. There were a lot of allegations being made", because according to the Arvizos' own story they had not disclosed anything about alleged child sexual abuse to Dickerman at that point yet. The claim is that they contacted Dickerman to get back their stuff from the storage locker, to stop alleged harassment by Jackson's people and to deal with the Arvizos’ issues with the media – ie. writing letters to various media outlets to make them stop using the Arvizos’ photos and footage from the Martin Bashir documentary, unless they could show that the Arvizos had given their legal consent.
In the above extract Dickerman says: "And I knew that he was the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters. Of course, I knew about the 1993 case, so I met with him, with the idea of picking his brain, actually, not to refer any matters to him."
Feldman previously dealt with only one case regarding Michael Jackson and that was the allegations of child sexual abuse by the Chandler family in 1993. There is no other claim for him being "the go-to guy with regard to Michael Jackson matters". But we are supposed to believe that Dickerman contacted him just to help him get back some old furniture from a storage locker or to help him write letters to the media? Because remember, this was all happening BEFORE Gavin first made allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson.
After being referred to Feldman by Dickerman, Feldman sent the Arvizos to Dr. Stanley Katz, a psychologist whose field is child sexual abuse. Moreover, Dr. Katz is the same psychologist who evaluated Jordan Chandler in 1993 and with whom Larry Feldman first worked together in 1987. Dr. Katz was formerly also involved in the highly controversial McMartin preschool trial. He was the Director of Training and Professional Education at the Children’s Institute International (CII). Kee McFarlane, who initially interviewed the McMartin children, worked under him. On cross-examination at Jackson’s 2005 trial, Dr. Katz testified that he did the assessments of the McMartin children. [6] The CII’s role in the McMartin case has been widely criticized in professional circles. Their interviewing techniques are considered coercive and manipulative which may lead children make false allegations about sexual abuse. [7]
Again, keep in mind that the claim is that the Arvizos were sent to Feldman regarding the storage locker, the alleged harassment and the media issues. Gavin testified in 2005 that the first person he ever made his allegations to was Dr. Katz and that he did not make any such allegations to either Dickerman, Feldman or his mother. Yet, he was sent to the same lawyer who negotiated a $15 million settlement for the Chandler family in 1993 in a child molestation lawsuit and this lawyer then sends him to a child abuse psychologist – the same one who also evaluated the 1993 accuser.
In his testimony Feldman claimed that Dr. Katz reported his findings to him in a verbal conversation in his office. Next Feldman called the Arvizo family back in his office to tell them about it. This is yet another contradiction among the many contradictions in the Arvizos’ story, because according to Janet Arvizo she had not learnt about her son’s alleged abuse until September 2003 when the police informed her about it after talking to her children. It actually does not make much sense that a child is sent to a psychologist who is a child abuse expert and the parent would not be informed of the alleged finidings of that interview until months later, nor would she enquire about them.
From Feldman’s testimony:
Q. At some point in time, did you receive a report back from Dr. Katz about his initial contacts with the family?
A. Oral. I got an oral — I had an oral conversation with him.
Q. Do you recall whether it was in person or over the phone?
A. I think it was in person, quite frankly. I think he came to my office.
Q. Now, after you received this report, did you do anything?
A. Yes.
Q. What did you do?
A. I called the Arvizo family, Mrs. Arvizo and the three children, back into my office for a meeting.
Q. All right. And in that meeting, what was the topic discussed?
MR. MESEREAU: Objection to the extent it calls for hearsay.
MR. SNEDDON: All right.
THE COURT: Overruled. The subject matter only.
THE WITNESS: The subject matter only. The subject matter was the options — well, what Dr. Katz had told me, and their — the options that existed at that point for that family. Different courses of action that were available to them at that point in time.
Now we have four different versions by the accusing side about how and when Janet Arvizo found out about the alleged abuse of her son:
1) According to the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) in her initial interview with Sgt. Steve Robel on July 6-7, 2003 Janet Arvizo claimed that their sons disclosed to her the alleged abuse after February or March, 2003:
"These disclosures were made to her after February or March of this year [2003]. She explained that she would interrupt and tell Star and Gavin to "forgive and forget". She did this because she thought she was doing the right thing. She wanted Star and Gavin to make the disclosures to a priest or someone else. She has since learned that this was wrong of her to do." (page 23)
On the stand in 2005 Janet Arvizo claimed that at the time she was not aware that either of her sons were molested, she was only “aware of things”. However, in the prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause document (November 17, 2003) it is clearly claimed that in February-March, 2003 her sons disclosed accounts of molestation to Janet Arvizo (eg. Jackson allegedly "moving his hips against Gavin" in bed while they were supposedly in bed together, Jackson allegedly touching Star's private parts etc. - see page 22-23 of the referenced document).
2) The very same prosecution document later contains a totally different version of how and when Janet Arvizo learnt about the alleged molestation of her son:
"It is important to note that during the course of the two interviews detailed in this affidavit, Mrs. Arvizo was not aware that Gavin has been molested. She believed the focus of our investigation was the family's having been held against their wishes at the Neverland Ranch upon their return from Miami and their escape in March. Mrs. Arviso (sic) told your Affiant she had contacted an attorney to help get their possessions back and to set up contacts with law enforcement to report what had happened to them. She emphasized she was not interested in money.
Your affiant is aware through a conversation with Sgt. Robel that around 5:00 p.m. on September 30, 2003, that Sgt. Robel, Lt. Klapakis and District Attorney Tom Sneddon met with Mrs. Arvizo and her family in a Los Angeles hotel and informed her that our conversations with her children had established that Gavin had been molested. This was the first time she was aware of the nature of her children's disclosures to law enforcement." (page 64)
3) On contrary with both versions in the prosecution’s Statement of Probable Cause Larry Feldman in his testimony in 2005 then provided a third version when he said after sending the Arvizo family to Dr. Stanley Katz in June 2003 he called them back to his office and discussed Dr. Katz’s findings with them and what kind of legal actions were available to them at that time.
4) As mentioned above, in March-April 2003 attorney William Dickerman wrote letters to Jackson’s attorney, Mark Geragos regarding the issue of returning the Arvizos’ items from a storage locker. In those letters Dickerman never makes any allegation of child molestation, false inprisonment or providing alcohol to a minor. When asked about this on the stand by Jackson's attorney, Thomas Mesereau, this is what Janet Arvizo had to say:
Q. In none of his letters did he ever mention anything about alcohol or child molestation, true?
A. Because that was information for these guys right here, for the police.
Q. How many months later?
A. Because I didn’t want Geragos to know that we were headed towards -- straight to the police.
So this is yet another version, in which they do not mention alleged molestation in those letters dated March-April, 2003, not because Janet Arvizo was not aware of it at the time yet, but because they were preserving that information for the police. Here we have to add, however, that they did not go “straight to the police” in March-April 2003, but they went to civil attorney Larry Feldman in May 2003 – like we have described above.
This is just one of the many contradictions in the Arvizos’ allegations. Others are discussed in detail in a seperate article.
Although Feldman represented the Arvizos, in a private conversation with television and radio host Larry King, shortly before Jackson’s trial began, Feldman admitted to King that he did not believe them, that he felt they only wanted money and that the mother was a „whacko”. King testified about it at Jackson’s trial but due to the hearsay nature of his testimony the jury was not allowed to be present and to take his testimony into consideration. Earlier in April in his own testimony, Larry Feldman denied making these remarks to Larry King.
It should be also noted that the California law that allowed the Chandlers to push the civil trial ahead of the criminal trial in 1993-94 was changed since – according to Santa Barbara District Attorney, Thomas Sneddon directly because of what happened in the Chandler case. [details see in settlement article] Because of this change, an accuser in a sexual assault case cannot pursue a civil lawsuit right away. The new law restricts a civil trial from preceding a criminal trial. It is for this reason that the Arvizos could not use the same strategy as what the Chandlers did in 1993. They had no choice but to begin a criminal trial first. And if they had won the criminal case that would have meant an automatic win for them in a civil court too, as we have learnt from the cross-examination of William Dickerman by Thomas Mesereau:
Q. But you certainly know that if someone has a judgment of a criminal conviction against them for sexual assault, you can use that in a civil court to establish liability and not have to incur the expenses and the time involved in a trial on liability, right?
A. I would assume that to be the case.
Q. The only issue at that point would be how much money you get in a civil courtroom, correct?
A. I don’t know if there are other issues, but I think as the judgment, that’s true of any criminal action, that you don’t then have to go, once again, and prove exactly what was proved with a higher burden of proof.
Feldman’s testimony under cross-examination confirmed this:
Q. Isn’t it true that a judgment of conviction in a criminal case for anything related to child molestation could be dispositive in a parallel civil suit alleged for the same facts?
A. As long as it’s a felony conviction, that’s right.
Q. In other words, if Mr. Jackson were convicted of felony child molestation in this case, either Gavin Arvizo or Star Arvizo could use that conviction to essentially win a civil case regarding similar alleged facts against Mr. Jackson?
A. That’s correct.
Q. If there were a conviction for felony child molestation in this case, and if Star or Gavin elected to sue in a civil case based on the similar alleged facts of sexual abuse, essentially the only issue remaining would be how much money you get, correct?
A. Probably. I think that’s — it’s close enough. I mean, nothing is that simple, as just stated. You know it as well as I. But essentially I think that’s what would happen.
Whatever Larry Feldman privately thought of the Arvizos, on June 13, 2003 he called Lieutenant Jeff Klapakis at the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office and reported to him Gavin’s allegations. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office was not new to the case. Like mentioned earlier they were already investigating Jackson since February 2003 and their investigation started before the alleged molestations even happened, according to the Arvizos’ final timeline. Klapakis was personally involved in that investigation since the beginning.
In July-September, 2003 investigators conducted several interviews with Gavin, Star, Davellin and Janet Arvizo. These interviews contain several contradictions with each other, as well as with the later versions of the Arvizos’ story. We address those and other contradictions of the Arvizos’ allegations in a seperate article.
According to Larry Feldman’s testimony in about August, September or October of 2003 (he was not sure of the exact month) he wrote a letter to the Arvizos saying he was not going to represent them. However, from his testimony we have learnt that later he and his law firm did represent various members of the family in related and other matters. For example, in 2004 on behalf of the Arvizos he filed a claim with the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, seeking monetary damages, because the DCFS’s report from February 20, 2003 got leaked to the public.
On November 18, 2003 an arrest warrant was issued for Michael Jackson based on Gavin Arvizo's allegations. Jackson at the time was in Las Vegas, but at the news of his arrest he returned to California and turned himself in. He was then released on a 3 million dollar bail. The same day, in Jackson’s absence, 70 sheriffs raided his home, the Neverland Ranch, to carry out a search warrant.
The Prosecution's Statement of Probable Cause (November 17, 2003) document, on which the search and arrest warrants were based on reasoned the request for the warrants as follows:
"The mere fact of forty-five-year-old Jackson's three-year-long interest in the adolescent Gavin is corroborating in itself; it would strike a reasonable person as grossly abnormal. So is the way that interest manifested itself: endless telephone conversations with the youngster, inappropriate and relatively public touching, kissing, licking and cuddling of him; expensive gifts, cross-country flights, the relocation of the family from their modest quarters in Los Angeles, his efforts to have them take up residence in Brazil." (page 66)
As you have seen above in reality Jackson did not have a „three-year-long interest in the adolescent Gavin” and „endless telephone conversations with the youngster”. In actuality, Gavin himself complained on the stand that Jackson was actively avoiding him during those three years and did not take and return his phone calls. The so called inappropriate „public touching, kissing, licking and cuddling” was conveniently always only observed by other members of the Arvizo family and there were no independent witnesses to confirm them. (For details see this article [link].) As for expensive gifts, Jackson was generous with everyone. The only cross-country flight (there were no cross-country flights in plural) took place on February 5-6 where the Arvizo family was invited to Miami for a press conference which eventually was called off (see above) and the claim about an attempt to relocate the family „to have them take up residence in Brazil” is also a gross misrepresentation of what really happened (again see earlier in this article).
The case went to Court in 2005 and Jackson was found not guilty on all charges on June 13, 2005. We discuss the details of the case in seperate articles.