Normally, after the police serve a search warrant on a location, an itemized list of what has been confiscated is released to the public. But nothing about the Michael Jackson case has been "normal" — not during the investigation, which began in 1993, and not during the most current case, which started in 2003. Most of the Jackson search-warrant returns have been heavily redacted, leaving the public to guess what kind of "books, magazines, videos and DVDs" were taken from Neverland Ranch. Now, Court TV's Investigative Unit can reveal some of the specifics. One of the books confiscated from Jackson's home in 1993 is entitled "The Boy: A Photographic Essay." According to child erotica connoisseurs on the Internet, this rare book is considered to be "a homoerotic classic." The book, published in 1964, contains dozens of photographs of nude prepubescent boys, many in suggestive poses. There are nude boys captured outdoors, nude boys who appear to be posing for the camera, and boys displaying full frontal nudity. Dr. Patricia Farrell, who has worked with pedophiles and their victims, studied the book for Court TV and concluded, "I think that this book could be used as a vehicle in a plan for seduction." Dr. Farrell said the photos in the book are perfect ammunition for a pedophile to use to begin a dialogue with a potential victim. "It's to introduce that whole sexual kind of atmosphere," Dr. Farrell explained. "Then you can begin to use [it] and go on from there. You know, it's like going through a maze [for the molester]. They don't go through directly to the target — you go this way and that way to get to the target." Retired NYPD sex crimes investigator Joe Gelfand, who worked in the pedophile unit for 12 years along with associates from the FBI, also studied the book. In his opinion, the coffee-table-size tome "is geared for people who, I would say, would be sexually attracted to adolescent boys." Asked if he considered it a pornographic book, Gelfand told Court TV, "I've made any arrests in my day and many times we've seen photographs like this in the homes of pedophiles. It's not sexually explicit, but it is erotica. It is child erotica." In addition to the book, CTV's I-Unit can confirm that investigators from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department also confiscated loads of pornographic material from various locations in Jackson's home. (Watch the video for a full list.) Porn movies with titles like "Barely Legal" and "Pimp Up, Ho's Down" were taken from the entertainer's master bedroom. Pornographic materials were found in Jackson's master bathroom, his den and in a second-floor closet, as well. Other law enforcement sources explained that it is important to understand the atmosphere in which a book like this is discovered. If it is found in the possession of someone who collects books on photography, that's one thing. If it is found among a collection of pornography, that might indicate that detectives were dealing with a pedophile. The I-Unit can confirm that when the book was confiscated, pornography was found, too. Search warrants list numerous porn magazines, movies, photographs and books that were taken as evidence. Both Dr. Farrell and Investigator Gelfand call the discovery of mostly heterosexual pornographic magazines significant, because many molesters of young boys use such material to excite and stimulate their prey. "The pedophile may think that the adolescent boy ... will probably be excited to see these magazines, more so than, say, magazines involving naked men," Gelfand said. Michael Jackson and his attorneys have consistently said that Jackson is not guilty of the charges against him. "He would never harm a child," his team has repeated many times. In the courtroom in Santa Maria, Calif., lead defense attorney Tom Mesereau has indicated they will present evidence at trial that proves the young accuser at the center of the current case (and his brother) helped themselves to Jackson's pornography collection —without the entertainer's permission. That could explain how the boy's fingerprints got on a copy of a magazine called "Barely Legal." Sources tell Court TV forensic tests found both the boy's prints, as well as Jackson's fingerprints, on the same magazine. |