Accuser Couldn’t Leave Neverland

SANTA MARIA, Calif. — Michael Jackson’s security officers were instructed in early 2003 to prevent the pop star’s teenage accuser from leaving the Neverland ranch, a former Jackson security officer testified Wednesday.

Ex-guard Brian Barron said written instructions were posted on a grease board in the security office at Jackson’s ranch in January or February 2003 and were also included in a security staff memorandum.

Barron’s testimony was central to one of the 10 charges in the case: that Jackson conspired to falsely imprison the teenager and his family at his sprawling Neverland ranch. Jackson also is charged with four counts of molesting the boy, four counts of providing him with alcohol and one count of attempted molestation.

“We weren’t to allow him off the property without permission from a supervisor,” said Barron, a police officer in Guadalupe, a town of about 6,000 in northern Santa Barbara County, who moonlighted part time for Jackson until last year.

Under cross-examination, Barron said that it was ranch policy to bar any minor who was Jackson’s guest from leaving the property unless they were accompanied by adults. Barron also said that during the five years he worked for Jackson he never saw any criminal activity at the ranch near Los Olivos.

Defense attorney Robert Sanger, one of Jackson’s four attorneys, also noted in his cross-examination that the accuser’s mother spoke to Barron on the telephone while she was allegedly held against her will at the ranch. The woman gave no indication that she was unhappy or that she wanted to leave, Barron said.

Barron told the jury that Neverland was a fantastic place for young guests, who had access to amusement park rides, a zoo, jet skis, all-terrain vehicles, horses, a movie theater and an arcade.

“It was a fun place to go. They got to do whatever they wanted, pretty much,” Barron said.

Sometimes, the children would get into trouble, he said.

In June 2002, the cancer survivor whose accusations are the focus of the trial was scolded by security guards after crashing a “Batman” golf cart into a water fountain, damaging a bumper, Barron said.

Santa Barbara County Dist. Atty. Tom Sneddon has described Neverland as a fantasy world that Jackson built to lure young boys, who he then “groomed” with alcohol and pornography before sexually molesting them. The prosecutor said he expects to complete his case by the end of next week.