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   Sheriff's dept. bugged on day Jackson arrested

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Topic: Sheriff's dept. bugged on day Jackson arrested (Read 152 times)

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Sheriff's dept. bugged on day Jackson arrested
« on: Dec 1^st, 2003, 11:19pm »

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Sheriff's dept. bugged on day Jackson arrested
Monday, December 1, 2003 Posted: 7:14 PM EST (0014 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Microphones found around the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department the day Michael Jackson was arrested last month appear to be attempts to spy on investigators, a department spokesman said Monday.

Sgt. Chris Pappas said the wireless microphones were found in several locations outside the sheriff's department headquarters November 20, in semi-public areas where department employees might go to smoke or eat.

Pappas said the microphones disappeared a few hours after they were spotted the day Jackson arrived handcuffed. The spokesman didn't know who planted or removed the devices.

Jackson, 45, was released on $3 million bond after being arrested on suspicion of child molestation last month. Formal charges against him will be brought in mid-December, according to a source close to the investigation.

Jackson and his lawyers say he's innocent, and charge that the boy who accused him and the child's family have brought the case for financial gain.

Pappas said there will be no investigation into the microphones, but said the incident has heightened the awareness of sheriff's department personnel about the danger of having conversations in semi-public areas.

Pappas said deputies will be more vigilant about attempts to spy on them in the future.

The media frenzy surrounding the Jackson story has led to legal action in at least two other attempts to gather information. One man who claimed to be a reporter was arrested for trespassing after he was found aboard the private jet that brought Jackson to Santa Barbara, according to The Associated Press. (Full story)

And the FBI looked into whether federal laws were broken when singer Jackson and his attorney were secretly videotaped aboard that jet. (Full story)

Attorney Mark Geragos accused the charter airline XtraJet of putting the cameras on the aircraft and obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent XtraJet from releasing the tapes until a hearing in December on a permanent injunction, according to a Jackson spokesman.

"The videotaping of my client conferring with me was illegal and outrageous, as was the aircraft company's attempt to sell that tape for profit," Geragos said last month. "We will be absolutely relentless in our pursuit of any and all extortionists, regardless of how they try to gift wrap their lies in the cloak of justice."

Multiple charges of child molestation are expected to be filed against Jackson in mid-December. A single count of child molestation can carry a prison sentence of up to eight years.

A source told CNN that investigators need time to examine evidence recovered at Jackson's Neverland Ranch and two other locations -- the offices of Jackson's private investigator and of a man who shoots videos for the pop star.

The time of the alleged molestation incident has not been disclosed. The alleged victim was 12 years old.

The boy appeared with Jackson in a British documentary about the singer in February. He and Jackson held hands during the interview, in which he said he had stayed overnight at Neverland. (Full story)

Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, a San Francisco assistant district attorney on leave and a legal contributor to CNN, said a source close to Jackson's defense played her an audiotape last month in which the mother, the alleged victim and his brother say Jackson "never acted inappropriately." The tape allegedly was recorded in February. (Full story)

CNN could not independently confirm that the voices on the tape are those of the mother, the alleged victim and his brother.

In June, the boy's family retained the services of an attorney, who took the boy to see a therapist and then referred the case to the Santa Barbara district attorney's office.

Jackson was investigated in 1993 after allegations of sexual misconduct involving a 13-year-old boy. He settled that case out of court -- a move that prosecutors now say prevented them from charging him because the accuser would not testify.

CNN correspondent Miguel Marquez contributed to this report

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