In support of his allegations, Wade now embraces certain alleged witnesses whose stories he previously denied. These people are ex-employees of Jackson, who came out with claims of inappropriate behavior by the singer during the 1993 Chandler allegations and the accompanying tabloid media frenzy. They have all been paid money by the tabloid media for their stories. These alleged witnesses who claimed to have seen inappropriate behavior by Jackson towards Wade, are: Charli Michaels, Mariano “Mark” Quindoy and Blanca Francia.
We have addressed Charli Michaels’s claims earlier in this document, and we have seen that her story is contradicted even by Wade’s mother. In this section we will address the Quindoys’ and Blanca Francia’s allegations.
Mark Quindoy
The Filipino couple, Mariano “Mark” and Ofelia “Faye” Quindoy, worked for Jackson between 1989 and 1990. In 1993 in the wake of the Chandler allegations they sold stories to the tabloid media, claiming that they quit, because they were so disturbed by what they had witnessed Jackson do with children. However, they were not disturbed enough to report what they allegedly saw to the authorities. In actuality, a lawsuit they filed against Jackson claiming he owed them $283,000 in overtime reveals that the real reason they left their employment with Jackson was because of disagreement about their wages and conflicts with other employees.
Regarding Wade, Mark Quindoy claimed that on one occasion in February 1990 he drove the boy and Jackson to shopping and on their way back glancing in the rearview mirror he observed Jackson fondling Wade, including on his genital area, and inappropriately kissing him on his face and neck.
The Quindoys gave media interviews and sold stories about Jackson before the 1993 Chandler allegations surfaced, but those stories never included claims of inappropriate behavior towards children. Those kind of claims, including their story about Wade, only emerged after the Chandler case became public in 1993 and the tabloid media offered money to anyone with such a story.
In 1992 the Quindoys gave a television interview about Jackson in which they described the star as “the shyest person in the world” [1] and told nice stories about him, or stories about eccentricities, but nothing about Jackson being inappropriate with children. Also in 1992 the couple was interviewed by Allan Hall, a reporter from the British tabloid, The Sun. Hall attested to the fact that at the time they had nothing bad to say about Jackson:
“The Sun drew up a contract for $25,000 and I spent some time with them in Los Angeles doing the Life and Times with Michael Jackson… [They] didn’t have a bad word to say about the guy, not one bad thing… Nothing, absolutely nothing. That he was just a kind man with children.” [2]
Hall remarked:
“They are two people that I would not trust at all. And I think that they have really gone to town to do Michael Jackson down for the mighty dollar. Now they see money being offered around again and they want some more.” [2]
In 1993, the Quindoys’ own nephew, Glen Veneracion, a law student at the time, came forward and denounced his aunt and uncle as opportunists:
“I just feel bad that this is happening. I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed to be related to these people. I’m ashamed for the people in our country. It’s an embarrassment. It really is.”
[…]
“What disturbs me the most out of all of this is that they waited so long. Why did it take them three years to come up with these allegations? That’s what really is disturbing. If this was true, they should have come out with it a long time ago instead of jumping on the bandwagon. They never said that Michael was a pedophile, they never said that Michael was gay, so I don’t know where this is coming from. I find it shocking. It’s very disturbing to me.” [1]
At the time, Veneracion said he would be willing to testify against his relatives if the case went to court.
After the Chandler case went public in 1993, the Quindoys did not contact authorities, but went to tabloids instead with their new allegations. In the 1994 documentary Tabloid Truth: The Michael Jackson Scandal Diane Dimond revealed that first the Quindoys wanted $900,000 for their story then they went down to $500,000. News of The World reporter, Stuart White disclosed in the same documentary that from his paper the Quindoys wanted about $250,000. [2]
Authorities eventually contacted the couple as a result of those tabloid stories. When asked why they did not turn to authorities with the information they now claimed to have, not even after the Chandler scandal went public, their answer was: “we were just witnesses not victims”. Consider that Mark Quindoy was a lawyer in his home country.
The Quindoys also tried to shop around a book deal. In their attempt to get publishers interested they claimed they had “secret witnesses” that they formerly withheld from the District Attorney.
The previous chapter: “Raising awareness” / “Helping other victims of Michael Jackson’s”?
The next chapter: Wade’s Witnesses – Blanca Francia
Sources:
[1] Lisa Campbell – The King of Pop’s Darkest Hour (Branden Publishing Company Inc., Boston, 1994)
[2] Tabliod Truth – The Michael Jackson Scandal (documentary by
Frontline, February 1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWoX4gd4JW0
The Michael Jackson Allegations 