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FEBRUARY 15--During a November 2003 press conference called to announce criminal charges against Michael Jackson, Santa Barbara investigators were asked about the prospect of additional victims besides the Los Angeles boy who had accused the entertainer of molestation. Sheriff Jim Anderson replied, "Yes, there is that possibility and we would encourage the public to come forward if they have any information" about similar sexual assaults.
By all accounts, however, Anderson's casting call did not result in the kind of witness stampede that investigators had expected.
So, four months later, when a tantalizing anonymous e-mail message addressed to "detective@sbsheriff.org" arrived in Anderson's office, his deputies pounced. Referring to an attachment that contained photos of Jackson posing with teenage boys (two of whom were shirtless), the writer noted, "I don't know who took the photos, probably his personal photographer but they don't look like any Sears portraits I've seen."
 To anyone who has even loosely followed the Jackson matter--let alone case detectives--the attached images should have been familiar. The dozen pictures were publicity photos taken of Jackson and three of his nephews. The young trio, sons of Jackson's brother Tito, perform under the name 3T and posed with their famous uncle to promote a single off the group's 1995 debut, "Brotherhood."
While Santa Barbara detectives recognized the 3T publicity photos, which have been published and circulated on the Internet, they still rushed to Judge Rodney Melville for a search warrant. According to a sealed court affidavit, Anderson's deputies needed the warrant to obtain subscriber information from an Internet service provider so they could track down the identity of the person who had sent the 3T images.
The semi-anonymous correspondent, investigators speculated, might have further information about Jackson and the bare-chested 3T boys. Or, they reasoned, the tipster--who used a starpower.net e-mail account--might even possess information about other alleged molestation victims.
 The possibility that the e-mail's author was just a guy who had found the images online and simply forwarded them to cops was not addressed. Nor was there apparently any attempt to determine his identity short of an intrusive search warrant. Using the e-mail address, it took a TSG reporter 30 minutes to identify the correspondent, determine that he lives in San Diego, works for the Transportation Security Agency, and once managed a Maryland photo studio. Oh, and he was recently looking to start an adult-themed web site. While documents reviewed by TSG do not reveal whether detectives got their man, it is likely he was tracked down--and found to be of little use.
The 3T warrant, signed in April 2004, was one of more than 100 search warrants secured by investigators in the 13-month period following the November 2003 raid of Jackson's ranch. The singer's lawyers have contended that this barrage reflected the overzealous and vindictive ways of Anderson and Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas Sneddon. Investigators have countered that their tactics, while certainly aggressive and proactive, have been legal, appropriate, and often court-authorized.
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