SANTA MARIA, Calif. (AP) – The mother of a boy who received millions from Michael Jackson in a lawsuit more than a decade ago told jurors Monday that Jackson pleaded with her to allow her son to sleep with him during visits to his Neverland ranch and on trips to Las Vegas, Florida and Europe.

The woman said that during several months in 1993 she was treated by Jackson to trips and lavish gifts of jewelry after she agreed to let the boy sleep in Jackson’s room.

But during the woman’s testimony there was no inquiry on whether Jackson molested her son. She said she saw her son and Jackson on the singer’s bed but did not indicate that anything improper was going on.

Prosecutors in Jackson’s trial are trying to support a teenager’s testimony about being molested in 2003 by calling witnesses from the past to show that the singer has a pattern of molestation or inappropriate behavior with young boys.

The woman said that during a trip to Las Vegas, Jackson left to take her son to a performance of Cirque du Soleil but returned early and knocked on her door in a distressed state, sobbing, shaking and trembling.

“He said, ‘You don’t trust me? We’re a family. Why won’t you allow him to be in my bedroom?”‘ she testified.

She said Jackson also told her there was “nothing going on” and again asked if she didn’t trust him.

After a 30- to 40-minute conversation, she said, she relented and gave permission for the boy to sleep in Jackson’s bedroom.

Jackson gave her a gold Cartier bracelet the next day, she said.

From then on the boy was constantly with Jackson, and the pop star even came to the family’s Santa Monica home and stayed there with the boy, she said.

“Did Mr. Jackson ever spend nights at your residence?” asked District Attorney Tom Sneddon.

“Yes … more than 30 times,” she said.

“And where would he stay?” asked Sneddon.

“In (my son’s) bedroom,” she said.

She said they also traveled in 1993 with Jackson to Monaco, where she and her daughter went on a shopping spree funded by the star. “I was given his credit card,” she said.

So close was the relationship, she said, that when she and her children flew to New York to attend a family wedding, she received word from Jackson’s secretary that he would be joining them. She said he arrived after the wedding and stayed at the same hotel.

Eventually, she said, her brother raised concerns about the relationship.

“He didn’t like that (my son) was spending time with Michael Jackson and not with his family,” she said.

The woman said this led to another confrontation with Jackson when she returned to the hotel room and found some lamps broken.

“What did Mr. Jackson say?” Sneddon asked.

“‘Why can’t we be a family? Why don’t you trust me?’ He was upset that I wanted my son back. I didn’t like the situation. It was getting out of control,” the woman said.

That June, she said, Jackson gave her a necklace, a pair of earrings and a ring.

The witness also was asked if her son was involved in a lawsuit against Jackson and if he received compensation. The woman said yes and that she also signed a confidentiality agreement to not disclose details of the agreement.

The court earlier said prosecutors may ask about a settlement but not mention the amount.

In earlier testimony, former Jackson publicist Bob Jones surprised the prosecution by saying he did not remember seeing the pop star lick the boy’s head on a trip from Paris to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, but he later reversed himself and said it must have happened after being confronted with an e-mail he wrote on the issue.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting a 13-year-old former cancer patient, plying the boy with alcohol, and holding his family captive in February and March 2003 to get them to help rebut a damaging documentary.


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