JOIN USPolice raid MJ's doctor
The raids —conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles and Las Vegas bureaus of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department —followed similar searches less than a week ago of Dr Murray’s office and storage unit in Houston. The officials were also authorised to seize files, billing information, test results and electronic records.
Murray, a cardiologist who tried to revive Jackson at his Los Angeles home shortly before he died on June 25, is the focus of a manslaughter investigation, according to court papers filed last week in Texas by the Los Angeles police. Edward M Chernoff, Murray’s lawyer, said the doctor was present and assisted officers when his home was searched on Tuesday.
Chernoff said investigators seized cellphones and a computer hard drive from Murray’s house. Investigators took similar items in Texas last week. Officers carried several boxes of documents and other materials from the doctor’s home here, in a gated housing development called Red Rock Country Club, and drove away before 1 pm in a convoy of police cars.
Across town, investigators also searched Dr Murray’s medical office, Global Cardiovascular Associates. The third-floor office was heavily guarded, and investigators closed a red curtain behind its double glass doors, blocking their activities from view. The investigators arrived about 9 am and left around 5 pm, carrying away several boxes. Chernoff said the search warrants for the two raids stated that detectives were looking for “medical records relating to Michael Jackson and all of his reported aliases.”
Fraudulent prescriptions
A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of restrictions on speaking to the news media about the investigation, confirmed that the officials were looking for fraudulent prescriptions.
The warrants granted the police the authority to seize any prescriptions or records listed under several suspected aliases for Jackson, including Bryan Singleton, Roselyn Muhammad, Faheem Muhammad, Fernand Diaz, Peter Madonie, Kai Chase and Josephine Baker.
Jackson’s son’s name, Prince Michael, was also listed as a possible alias, an official said.