
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993                   TAG: 9308300048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

JACKSON DETECTIVE DESCRIBES EXTORTION

Michael Jackson's private investigator said the father of a 13-year-old boy demanded $20 million and threatened to accuse the entertainer of child molestation if he didn't get it, a newspaper reported.

In an interview in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, Anthony Pellicano said Jackson was warned charges would be made in papers filed in court as part of a custody dispute between the boy's divorced parents if the sum was not paid.

Pellicano said he and Jackson met with the teen and his father on Aug. 4 at a California hotel.

At that meeting, the father accused Jackson of molesting his son and demanded the singer set him up as a screenwriter. Details of the meeting were reported to police, Pellicano said. The investigator added that Jackson did not respond during the meeting, and that the father stormed out of the room.

Later that same night, Pellicano said the father's lawyer proposed that Jackson pay the father $5 million a year for four years in exchange for not publicly accusing Jackson of molesting his son. He suggested the money be paid in the form of four film development projects. Pellicano said he refused that offer but the next day offered $350,000 as a film development deal in an attempt to expose the extortion plot.

"I was trying to set him up with the extortion," Pellicano said. "I wanted to see if he would take it."

Instead, the father took his son to a therapist, and the son reported a history of sexual abuse by Jackson. The therapist then called authorities, who opened their investigation the same day, Aug. 17.

Neither the father nor his lawyer has commented on the case publicly since the story broke last week.

Police and county Children's Services department officials have refused comment on their investigations, but the Times cited sources familiar with the investigation as saying not enough physical evidence had been found to date to link Jackson to sexual molestation charges.

Meanwhile, Jackson's friend Elizabeth Taylor flew to Singapore to join Jackson, where he performed Sunday - his 35th birthday - at the National Stadium.

by CNB