Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 | 9:34 a.m.
Michael Jackson returned to Henderson and the Green Valley Ranch Station Casino on Thursday afternoon, after flying to Santa Barbara, Calif., where he turned himself into police, was booked on multiple counts of suspicion of child molestation, and then freed after posting $3 million bail.
Jackson left from the North Las Vegas Airport around 10:30 a.m. Thursday after spending the previous night at Green Valley Ranch Station in Henderson. He was back in Henderson less than five hours later, and returned to the resort around 6 p.m.
Jackson's rented private plane landed at Henderson Executive Airport around 3:15 p.m. He was greeted by a group, thought to include two of his children, who went onto the plane. After about 15 or 20 minutes people began leaving the plane and getting into a sport-utility vehicle, minivan and sedan, which were parked at the bottom of the plane's steps.
Jackson stepped off the plane at 3:45 p.m., glanced over to a group of about 10 onlookers -- mostly people who work at the airport -- flashed the peace sign and then got into a black Lincoln Navigator.
Jackson's three-vehicle procession left the airport around 4 p.m. and then led media and fans on a roughly two-hour meandering ride through the southeast Las Vegas Valley before ending up at the resort.
People seen with Jackson at the airport were then seen at the resort during the next few hours. A man who said he worked for Jackson said the superstar was resting in his room at 7:30 p.m.
Around 6:45 p.m. a man who said he was one of Jackson's security personnel threatened a reporter in an effort to keep him out of a hotel elevator that led to the parking garage.
On the first floor of the parking garage a black Lincoln Navigator and red Chrysler sedan, which appeared to be two of the three vehicles that brought Jackson and his group to the resort, were parked in spaces marked for "Police Vehicles Only!"
Jackson, one of the biggest pop music stars in history, had been in Las Vegas shooting a music video in recent weeks.
Jackson, 45, is accused of multiple counts of molestation, authorities have said. Although no details have been released, it has been widely reported that the allegations come from a 12-year-old boy who spent time in recent months at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
Jackson's arraignment is set for Jan. 9 in Santa Barbara Superior Court.
"He is greatly outraged by the bringing of these charges," his attorney, Mark Geragos, said. "He considers this to be a big lie."
Wearing a black suit, white shirt and white tie, Jackson waved to reporters and flashed a V-sign before leaving the jail in a vehicle that returned him to the airport.
"Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons. The truth will win this marathon in court," the entertainer said in a statement issued by spokesman Stuart Backerman.
At the Henderson airport, the view of the stairs to the plane was blocked on one side by something that looked like a large white sheet. On the other side, men held up what looked like a tan blanket to hide those deplaning.
The children had their heads and faces covered when they were carried from the plane to a waiting black Lincoln Navigator.
Bill Humphrey, 62, a buyer for King Airlines who was at the airport, said he liked that Jackson waved to them on his way out of the plane.
"I think it was pretty neat of him," Humphrey said. "It seems like he's not so wrapped up in himself as other celebrities are."
By the time Jackson's group pulled into the Green Valley Ranch resort, scores of fans were either there or on their way.
At 6:30 p.m. at the resort, about 20 fans were waiting at the top of stairs overlooking the pool hoping to see Jackson when a security officer passed on some bad news.
"You're not going to see him tonight," the man said as he put up ropes blocking the stairs.
During the next 30 minutes or so, resort staff members were asking groups of fans to move on, and asking people to put their cameras away.
By 7 p.m. the groups of fans had dispersed, although some individual fans were still roaming the casino.
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