Update (June 22, 8:43AM): A representative for Michael Jackson’s estate reached out to Vanity Fair, and said, “Everything in these reports, including what the County of Santa Barbara calls ‘content that appears to be obtained off the Internet or through unknown sources’ is false.”
Update (June 21, 10:10AM): A representative from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department gave Vanity Fair the following statement regarding the documents:
Some of the documents appear to be copies of reports that were authored by Sheriff’s Office personnel as well as evidentiary photographs taken by Sheriff’s Office personnel interspersed with content that appears to be obtained off the Internet or through unknown sources. The Sheriff’s Office did not release any of the documents and/or photographs to the media. The Sheriff’s Office released all of its reports and the photographs as part of the required discovery process to the prosecution and the defense.
The original post is continued below.
In 2003, police raided Neverland Ranch while investigating charges of child molestation that had been brought against Michael Jackson. Jackson was acquitted in 2005—but now, seven years after the late pop star’s death, a newly surfaced police report details what Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department found during their raid: a disturbing collection of pornography that included images of children’s faces superimposed on adult bodies, as well as materials police said can be used to de-sensitize young children in order to groom them for future abuse.
Radar Online obtained the documents, which contain description and pictures from various books and magazines found in Jackson’s secluded California home.
Many of the materials contain nude young adults and adolescents, and many were described as consistent with the type of material that can be used to lower young victims’ inhibitions. Some of the materials centered on S&M, and Radar Online also describes images of animal torture and gore.
The police investigation began in 2003, when the singer faced accusations of child molestation and intoxication of a minor after Gavin Arvizo, then 13 years old, came forward. From all of the charges combined, Jackson could have served 20 years in prison—but he was acquitted in 2005, and died four years later from cardiac arrest.
– Vanity Fair
