The FBI released files it collected over the past 17 years on
Michael Jackson on Tuesday, most of them from the federal agency's
support of the California investigations of child molestation
allegations against the entertainer.
Journalists began scouring
the 333 heavily redacted pages -- published on the FBI's Web site --
for any new insight into Jackson's life and the investigations of him.
The
FBI, noting that Jackson was acquitted of all charges, said the case
files were made public after Freedom of Information Act requests filed
after the pop star's June 25 death.
Los Angeles Police, who were
investigating child molestation allegations against Jackson, called the
FBI's Los Angeles office in September 1993 to suggest the agency look
into a "possible federal violation against Jackson concerning
transportation of a minor across state lines for immoral purposes (Mann
Act)", one document said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia
Donahue "advised that she checked with her front office and they had
made the decision that the United States attorney was not interested in
prosecuting Michael Jackson for a violation of the Mann Act," the
report said.
Still, the FBI office decided it could offer support to the LAPD and Santa Barbara County Sheriff's investigation, it said.
That support included providing a driver
and stenographer for California investigators who traveled to Manila in
the Philippines to interview the couple who had managed Jackson's
Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County from 1988 until 1990, it said.
The
FBI file included several newspaper clippings reporting on the
detectives' trip to interview Mariano Quindoy and his wife, Faye.
An FBI agent wrote that the detectives "said they felt they had been successful in their interviews."
The
FBI also helped the police follow up on a lead in Ottawa, Canada, where
they thought a social worker might have information about Jackson.
The
woman told an FBI agent in a phone interview that during a
cross-country train trip from Chicago, Illinois, to California she
slept in a compartment adjoining one of four occupied by Jackson,
"adult staff" and a boy who "was ID'd as Michael's 'cousin,'" the agent
wrote.
"Jackson was very possessive of boy," the agent's handwritten notes said.
The woman told the agent that at night she "heard questionable noises through wall," the notes said.
"She was concerned enough to notify the conductor of her suspicions," the agent wrote.
A
notation at the end of the case file said it was closed in August 1994
as "No outstanding leads remain for the Los Angeles Office in this
matter."
It said the Los Angeles prosecutor "was still in the process of deciding whether or not to file charges against Jackson."
The
Los Angeles County district attorney did not pursue criminal charges
against Jackson, but the singer did reach a confidential financial
settlement with the 1993 accuser, Jordan Chandler, and his father after
they filed a lawsuit. Reports at the time said the Chandlers got
between $16 million and $20 million from Jackson's insurance company.
The
Chandler accusation became a key part of the prosecution's case when
Jackson was tried and acquitted of molestation a decade later in Santa
Barbara County, California.
The FBI files from that case said the federal government gave forensic computer analysis assistance in the early months of 2004.
The
FBI also considered a request by local police for security help at
Jackson's 2004 trial because the "proceedings could represent a soft
target for terrorism due to the worldwide media coverage the case is
receiving," one FBI document said.
While there was "no
intelligence indicating a threat of a terrorist act targeting this
event," the report noted that "a known New Black Panther Party member"
was seen in the crowd during Jackson's first court appearance in Santa
Maria, California.
Santa Barbara County prosecutors asked the
FBI in September 2004 to consider federal sex charges against Jackson
involving an alleged victim in New York, one file said.
An FBI
agent who traveled from Los Angeles to New York to interview him later
reported that the alleged victim "advised agents that he had no
interest in testifying against Jackson."
"[Name redacted] advised that he would legally fight any attempt to do so. [Name redacted] believed he had done his part."
That case was closed soon after the interview.
The files also include notes from the FBI's investigation of a man who
sent letters threatening to kill Jackson and President George H.W. Bush
in 1992. The man pleaded guilty and was sent to a federal prison, the FBI said.
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