Child welfare officials in Los Angeles County do not believe Michael Jackson molested the boy who claims that Jackson abused him while he was a sleepover guest at the Neverland ranch, a leaked memo shows.
The memo, which came from the desk of an administrator at the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, said that a joint investigation conducted in mid-February by the agency and the Los Angeles Police Department turned up no proof of molestation.
"As per the sexual abuse allegations, the mother stated that her children are never left alone with the entertainer," the memo said.
"She further stated that her son has slept in the same room as the entertainer but they did not share a bed. The entertainer would sleep on the floor," it said.
Neil Zanville, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services, confirmed the memo was authentic but could not comment on its contents.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department booked Jackson on charges of child molestation on Nov. 20, but the county district attorney has yet to file formal charges in the case.
The children's department investigation began after the boy, a cancer patient, appeared in a TV documentary holding hands with Jackson and saying he often slept in the entertainer's bed.
Jackson said in the film, "The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone," and an official from the boy's school who saw it contacted authorities.
The boy's mother said the news media had taken their relationship out of context and that Jackson was like a father to her children, the memo said.
Furthermore, it said the boy, his brother and sister all denied that anything improper happened when they stayed at the ranch.
The sister, who was 16 at the time, said "she had accompanied her brothers on sleepovers at the entertainer's home and had never seen anything sexually inappropriate between her brothers and the entertainer."
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