Prosecution presents phone records as evidence

A bank worker also testified about cashing a check from a Neverland account.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Michael Jackson's aides engaged in a flurry of telephone calls in the days after the broadcast of a British documentary harmful to the singer's interests, according to evidence presented Monday.
Two sheriff's detectives testified at the trial Monday about the phone call records that the prosecution is using to support its charge that Jackson and aides conspired to control the family of the boy accusing Jackson of molestation. None of the records directly links the singer to the calls.
Checks
Earlier, Beverly Wagner, who was manager of a US Bank branch in Santa Monica, testified that she helped a Jackson aide, Fred Marc Schaffel, cash two checks worth $1.5 million in April 2003.
One check was for $1 million, turned into cash April 2, 2003. A few days later, Schaffel cashed a check for $500,000. The money came from an account, named Neverland Valley Entertainment, whose only signatories were Schaffel and Jackson.
There was no indication whether Jackson received the money or for what purpose the money was meant. Under cross-examination, Wagner said she only spoke to Jackson once and that she couldn't recall what they discussed.
Schaffel, a producer of gay pornography, sued Jackson in November for $3 million, money he said he was owed for loans he made to the singer and for production fees.
Many witnesses have named Schaffel, who is one of the unindicted co-conspirators, as a key person in trying to contain the publicity fallout from a February 2003 British documentary in which Jackson held hands with the boy who later accused him of molestation. Jackson also said on the tape that he innocently slept with young boys.
In addition to the conspiracy charge, Jackson, 46, also is accused of molesting the boy, then 13, in early 2003 at Neverland. He is also charged with giving the minor alcohol to aid in the commission of a felony.
After Wagner, Craig Bonner, now a sergeant with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, testified about the phone calls among Jackson aides. He was followed by Paul Zelis, also of the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department.
Last week, telephone company officials produced pages of records among Schaffel and other unindicted co-conspirators, including Frank Tyson, also known as Frank Cascio, and Vincent Amen. Many calls also were placed to Jackson bodyguard Chris Carter, who carried a cell phone that the prosecution maintains was used by the singer, although it was unknown who received the calls.