Children Ran ‘Wild’ at Neverland, Witness Says

For some children, life at Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch was similar to “Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island,” a place where they roamed free of adult supervision, ate themselves sick on candy, had popcorn fights in a movie theater and occasionally got drunk, a former Jackson housekeeper testified Thursday.

Kiki Fournier, who worked at Jackson’s Santa Ynez Valley ranch from 1991 to 2003, said the entertainer frequently allowed child guests to spend the night, often without their parents and with many of them sleeping in his bedroom.

She identified 10 adolescent boys with whom Jackson appeared to have particularly close relationships, including actor Macaulay Culkin and the 15-year-old Los Angeles boy whose molestation accusations are the focus of the trial.

Children who visited Jackson sometimes stayed weeks without their parents, Fournier said. They would spend their days on his 2,800-acre ranch, wandering through a zoo containing elephants, chimps and a tiger, driving and crashing golf carts, and riding on a train, Ferris wheel and merry-go-round.

“With the absence of an authority figure, these children became wild,” Fournier said. “It became like Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island sometimes.”

Children helped themselves to an arcade loaded with games and to a theater with an extensive collection of movies and free popcorn, ice cream and sodas, Fournier said. When they would get hungry, they could go to Jackson’s kitchen where his staff would prepare cooked-to-order meals.

At night, lights strung on trees brightened the grounds and Disney songs played from outdoor speakers.

During her first day on the job, Fournier recalled having to clean up after what appeared to be a Silly String fight inside Jackson’s home.

The children became more disruptive the more time they spent on the property, she said.

“It seemed the more free rein they got, they would become very, very wild and in some ways destructive,” she said.

In September 2003, Jackson spent a day entertaining about four or five boys from nearby Los Olivos at a guest house on his property, Fournier said. At Jackson’s request, she brought a basket of munchies. Later, when the boys sat down for dinner, three or four of the them, as well as Jackson, appeared to be intoxicated, she said.

Jackson’s teenage accuser said the singer gave him alcohol on numerous occasions and twice fondled him in 2003 after he had been drinking. The boy’s brother, who also said Jackson gave him alcohol, said he twice witnessed Jackson fondling his brother when the boy appeared to be unconscious after a night of drinking.

Fournier said she never noticed the accuser or his brother under the influence of alcohol. But she did notice their behavior change the longer they stayed at Neverland. Once, she said, the accuser’s brother playfully put a kitchen knife to her back when she scolded him for cooking without permission.

She said that some of the children stayed at the ranch as guests even when Jackson was not there. When he was home, Jackson would occasionally scold his adolescent guests for misbehaving. But their behavior often went unchecked.

Fournier took the stand at the end of the third week of testimony in Jackson’s trial on charges that he molested a Los Angeles boy at Neverland in February 2003.

Jackson appeared more animated in court Thursday than he has in recent days. On his way into court, he smiled and waved to fans who filled the back rows of the courtroom. He gave Fournier a “thumb’s up” signal when she testified about his fans and later flashed a peace sign to television cameras when exiting the courtroom during a break.

Prosecutors allege that Jackson, 46, used his amusement park residence to lure children and that he plied his victim, a cancer survivor who was then 13, with alcohol before molesting him. The entertainer faces 10 felony charges and a possible sentence of 20 years in prison.

Fournier said that many of Jackson’s child guests slept in the entertainer’s two-story bedroom suite instead of the guest rooms they were assigned. She said she reached that conclusion in part because the boys’ rooms did not appear to have been used during their stays.

But, in a point seized on by Jackson’s defense, she noted that the bedroom used by Jackson’s accuser appeared to be filthy during the two weeks before his family moved out of Neverland. Fournier said that led her to believe the boy was sleeping in his room during those weeks. It was around that time that the boy said Jackson molested him in the entertainer’s bed.

Another witness on Thursday was Fritz Coleman, a weatherman for KNBC-TV Channel 4 in Los Angeles. Coleman said he met Jackson’s accuser, his brother and sister at a comedy camp at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood.

When he later learned the boy had cancer, Coleman said he participated in a Laugh Factory fundraiser for the boy.

Jackson’s lawyer, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., in cross-examination, implied that the family did not need Coleman’s help. Mesereau asked Coleman whether he knew the boy’s mother won a legal settlement of more than $100,000 from J.C. Penney Co. or that the boy’s treatment was covered by medical insurance. He said he was not aware of that.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney S. Melville gave jurors today off and said he would discuss a scheduling matter and legal motions with attorneys.

Testimony is expected to resume Monday.