Michael Jackson Timeline Smacks of Impropriety,
but by Whom?
December 10, 2003
Tampa Bay, Fla. (December 10, 2003) – During this holiday season I don’t know which one will be more difficult to digest, turkey or Michael Jackson. And, as if we haven’t seen enough twists and turns to this second set of sexual child abuse accusations leveled against the King of Pop, another one surfaced yesterday.
Published yesterday at the smokinggun.com website is a document dated November 26 from the Department of Children and Family Services out of Los Angeles. Their nine month investigation of Jackson’s alleged abuse of a young boy stricken with cancer culminated in the finding of “unfounded both by the LAPD-Wilshire Division and the Department.” In other words, there was no merit to the allegations.
On November 20, Michael Jackson was arrested and booked in Santa Barbara, California for probable cause that he violated California Penal Code 288(a) and committed lewd and lascivious acts upon his now 14 year-old complainant. But, how could the authorities have reasonable suspicions Jackson committed a crime when child protective services claims nothing happened? Why did social services take nine months to release their unfounded finding and did so after the police arrested Jackson? There’s more.
Ostensibly, the accusing child’s younger brother recanted an accusation that Jackson abused his brother and the complainant’s older sister denied abuse on the part of Jackson. While Jackson is no doubt an odd bird who is guilty of poor judgment, allowing minors over for slumber parties after being accused of similar acts upon a child in 1993, the most important player in this chess game and puzzle may be the accusing boy’s mother. You be the judge.
Janet Ventura, the complaining boy’s mother, talked highly of Jackson, calling him an “angel,” and praised him for reaching out to her son. Admitting she allowed her child to stay overnight at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, Ventura stated Jackson did not abuse her son. Later she changed her tune that Jackson did abuse her son, and opted to query an attorney with her concerns, not the police or child protective services.
The attorney referred her to Larry Feldman, the same lawyer who represented Jordan Chandler, the boy who accused Jackson of abuse back in 1993. Curiously, Jackson’s current accuser disclosed molestation to a phantom psychiatrist, who of course is required by state and federal law to report his or her concerns to the authorities. The rest is history. Or, is it?
Media reports indicate that Ms. Ventura won a judgment for over one hundred thousand dollars against J.C.Penneys and Tower Records for an incident stemming from 1999 whereby she was allegedly sexually assaulted and her son, Jackson’s accuser, was beaten by police. Does the accusing boy’s mother smell a get rich quick scheme? After all, it’s public knowledge that Jackson settled out of court with the current Mr. Chandler and his parents for about fifteen to twenty million dollars back in 1993.
Make no mistake. Child abuse is a problem in America. According to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, this year alone will depict about 3 million reports of alleged child abuse and neglect in America, of which about a million cases will be confirmed. Social services and the police are charged with the lofty task of protecting our most precious resource – our children. On the flip side, some of us know someone who has been wrongly accused of child abuse, perhaps within the heat of battle in court over divorce and custody.
Michael Jackson is a lot of things. He’s eccentric. He’s bizarre. He’s different. He’s a 45 year-old man living in the body of a child, according to him. He wants to reclaim his childhood by hanging out with kids. In these politically correct times where the government sometimes acts “in loco parentis” in alleged child abuse cases, Jackson should know better than to keep the company of strange children. Is that child abuse? Only time will tell.
