Santa Maria, CA – A former chef at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch took the stand on Friday to testify that he witnessed the pop singer touch child star Macaulay Culkin in the early 1990s.Phillip LeMarque testified that he had been summoned to cook and deliver french fries to Jackson and Culkin and that he witnesses the incident at about 3am. “I was shocked,” said LeMarque. “I almost dropped the french fries.”
LeMarque testified in Jackson’s molestation trial that he saw Jackson holding Culkin up to be able to reach the controls of a video game. One of Jackson’s hands held the boy around the waist, and his other hand was up through the leg of Culkin’s shorts and on his crotch, LeMarque said.
Culkin, who would have been 10 or 11 at the time of the incident in 1991, denied that Jackson ever touched him in a sexual manner.
There was question as to whether LeMarque’s testimony would be allowed, after the defense put in a bid to try to impeach his credibility when they introduced evidence that LeMarque operated an adult website from 1997 until recently.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Rodney Melville ruled that LeMarque’s testimony would stand.
