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American Morning
Life at the Ranch
Aired November 28, 2003 - 07:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Wegner was head of security at Neverland Ranch for three years. He left the job about 10 years ago, wrote a book about it, in fact. The book is called "My Three Years Working for Michael Jackson."
Robert Wegner is live with us today from the state of Nevada. Good morning, sir. Nice to see you this morning, the day after Thanksgiving.
ROBERT WEGNER, FMR. HEAD OF SECURITY AT NEVERLAND RANCH: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: How often did you have contact with Michael Jackson in those three years?
WEGNER: Oh, maybe only a half a dozen times or so, but it was always strictly business. He wasn't much to chitchat with employees.
HEMMER: Would you say you were friends, or just an employee then?
WEGNER: Just an employee.
HEMMER: Six times in three years, doesn't strike me as a whole lot of contact.
WEGNER: No, well, remember, he's not always there all the time either. I ran the security to protect his ranch, and him and his assets, when he's on tour and stuff. It was give and take.
HEMMER: Robert, one of the things you write in your book, I'll put it on the screen for our viewers to read along with us. You say, "I started to pay close attention to Michael when Michael was around children. It appeared that he always would stand close to them so their bodies would make contact." Seems a bit nebulous. Describe that to us, how you saw that contact.
WEGNER: Well, when I started seeing the numbers that were staying in his bedroom, I got suspicious and decided to start watching him closer, but anytime he was around the children, it would be a touching thing.
I'll give you another example. The electric carts that they go on because the ranch is big, so when they want to go to the zoo, or the park or theater, they get on electric carts. Whenever he would have a boy on the cart with him, his leg would always be touching the boy's leg and he would lay his hand on the boy's thigh. Now this wasn't just one time, this was every time he had a boy on the cart with him. The seat was wide enough you didn't have to make contact.
HEMMER: Is that against the law though, sir?
WEGNER: No, that's just improper, as far as I'm concerned. I never saw anything that was against the law.
HEMMER: You never saw anything illegal in your three years? Nothing illegal?
WEGNER: No, I just saw improprieties that lead you up to circumstances, circumstantial evidence, and each one that I saw added more to it.
HEMMER: Robert, you mentioned in a few answers back there that you got concerned with the number of people in his bedroom. You say 100 children slept in his room that three-year period. How would you arrive at this number?
WEGNER: We had a chalk board in the security office. On that chalkboard was the sleeping arrangements of every place on the ranch. I would guess it was between 12 and 14 sleeping places. He has his own fire department. So it was up to security to put numbers in all those spots where people were sleeping so then we could give that to the fire department in case they had an emergency and had to evacuate.
HEMMER: Robert, you've contacted the D.A. in Santa Barbara County. They have not gotten back to you. Why do you think that is?
WEGNER: Well, I just -- if I had anything to help them with, I would. I may not have. So he may have enough of a case he doesn't have to go out looking.
HEMMER: You say you wrote the book to make sure kids are protected. You trying to make some money too, though, in this?
WEGNER: Oh, yes. You know, I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say that was the case.
But I'll tell you something, if I had been able to go to the grand jury, there wouldn't have been a book. I got injured, and that's why I left the ranch. I fell on my back and hurt my back. I've been on a walker for 10 years now, totally permanently disabled, and they convinced LAPD that I could not come to the grand jury hearing. When I heard that there had been one, it was over. So if I had testified there, there wouldn't have been a book.
HEMMER: Robert Wegner, thanks for talking to us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 28, 2003 - 07:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Robert Wegner was head of security at Neverland Ranch for three years. He left the job about 10 years ago, wrote a book about it, in fact. The book is called "My Three Years Working for Michael Jackson."
Robert Wegner is live with us today from the state of Nevada. Good morning, sir. Nice to see you this morning, the day after Thanksgiving.
ROBERT WEGNER, FMR. HEAD OF SECURITY AT NEVERLAND RANCH: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: How often did you have contact with Michael Jackson in those three years?
WEGNER: Oh, maybe only a half a dozen times or so, but it was always strictly business. He wasn't much to chitchat with employees.
HEMMER: Would you say you were friends, or just an employee then?
WEGNER: Just an employee.
HEMMER: Six times in three years, doesn't strike me as a whole lot of contact.
WEGNER: No, well, remember, he's not always there all the time either. I ran the security to protect his ranch, and him and his assets, when he's on tour and stuff. It was give and take.
HEMMER: Robert, one of the things you write in your book, I'll put it on the screen for our viewers to read along with us. You say, "I started to pay close attention to Michael when Michael was around children. It appeared that he always would stand close to them so their bodies would make contact." Seems a bit nebulous. Describe that to us, how you saw that contact.
WEGNER: Well, when I started seeing the numbers that were staying in his bedroom, I got suspicious and decided to start watching him closer, but anytime he was around the children, it would be a touching thing.
I'll give you another example. The electric carts that they go on because the ranch is big, so when they want to go to the zoo, or the park or theater, they get on electric carts. Whenever he would have a boy on the cart with him, his leg would always be touching the boy's leg and he would lay his hand on the boy's thigh. Now this wasn't just one time, this was every time he had a boy on the cart with him. The seat was wide enough you didn't have to make contact.
HEMMER: Is that against the law though, sir?
WEGNER: No, that's just improper, as far as I'm concerned. I never saw anything that was against the law.
HEMMER: You never saw anything illegal in your three years? Nothing illegal?
WEGNER: No, I just saw improprieties that lead you up to circumstances, circumstantial evidence, and each one that I saw added more to it.
HEMMER: Robert, you mentioned in a few answers back there that you got concerned with the number of people in his bedroom. You say 100 children slept in his room that three-year period. How would you arrive at this number?
WEGNER: We had a chalk board in the security office. On that chalkboard was the sleeping arrangements of every place on the ranch. I would guess it was between 12 and 14 sleeping places. He has his own fire department. So it was up to security to put numbers in all those spots where people were sleeping so then we could give that to the fire department in case they had an emergency and had to evacuate.
HEMMER: Robert, you've contacted the D.A. in Santa Barbara County. They have not gotten back to you. Why do you think that is?
WEGNER: Well, I just -- if I had anything to help them with, I would. I may not have. So he may have enough of a case he doesn't have to go out looking.
HEMMER: You say you wrote the book to make sure kids are protected. You trying to make some money too, though, in this?
WEGNER: Oh, yes. You know, I wouldn't be telling the truth if I didn't say that was the case.
But I'll tell you something, if I had been able to go to the grand jury, there wouldn't have been a book. I got injured, and that's why I left the ranch. I fell on my back and hurt my back. I've been on a walker for 10 years now, totally permanently disabled, and they convinced LAPD that I could not come to the grand jury hearing. When I heard that there had been one, it was over. So if I had testified there, there wouldn't have been a book.
HEMMER: Robert Wegner, thanks for talking to us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
