Thursday, March 24, 2005 | 11:07 a.m.
A key witness for the prosecution in the Michael Jackson molestation trial is currently sitting in a cell at the Clark County Detention Center, facing charges of armed robbery, first degree kidnapping and robbery.
Chris Eric Carter, 25, was arrested Feb. 19 in Las Vegas for allegedly robbing at gunpoint and kidnapping employees at the Jack in the Box at 4970 Spring Mountain Road earlier that month.
Carter went before a Clark County District Court grand jury on Tuesday, according to Mary Aceves, 44, who was allegedly kidnapped by Carter during the robbery. Aceves gave testimony before the grand jury on Tuesday.
Carter worked as a bodyguard for Michael Jackson from August 2002 to August 2003 and said in previous grand jury testimony that he was employed as a bodyguard at Caesars Palace. Carter, who was to testify for the prosecution, worked for the pop star when Jackson allegedly molested a 13-year-old boy.
Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, said he did not know if Carter would be transported to California to testify.
"The fact is that he's in jail here," Montoya said. "He's in our custody. Granted it (the Jackson trial) is a high-profile case but I don't think they'll let him go. When we're done with him, it's a different story."
The 46-year-old Jackson is currently on trial in Santa Maria, Calif., for allegedly molesting the teen -- a cancer patient -- at his fabled Neverland Ranch in early 2003 and providing alcohol to the teen.
Jackson is also facing charges that he allegedly conspired to hold the parents of the alleged victim captive until they made a video refuting a documentary of Jackson in 2003 in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bed.
Jackson has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Carter is scheduled to go to court on March 29, according to the Clark County Detention Center. He is facing two counts of robbery, for which he is being held on $50,000 bail, and another charge of "non-violent offense," for which he is being held on a $200,000 bail, according to the detention center.
According to a Metro Police declaration of warrant posted on the Smoking Gun Web site, Carter resided at the Spring Valley Highlands II gated community in the 5300 block of South Jones. A woman who answered the door to his listed residence declined to answer any questions Wednesday night.
Carter allegedly robbed the fast food restaurant of $239 on Feb. 2, according to the police report. The 6-foot tall, 220 pound Carter allegedly entered the restaurant at 8:11 p.m. wearing a white T-shirt over his head with eye holes cut out, threatening the employees with a firearm.
Aceves said she was caught up in the robbery almost by accident. She and her husband had purchased food from the drive-through window earlier that night, but she drove back to the restaurant when she discovered that the servers did not include a hamburger she had ordered.
Aceves, a food server at the Excalibur hotel and casino, said she was walking out of the restaurant when Carter allegedly grabbed her and ordered her back inside.
"I begged him, 'Let me go, let me go,' but he said, 'Lay on the floor and I'll let you go,' " she said.
"It's a miserable feeling when you get caught up in something like this and realize it might be the last few minutes of your life," Aceves said.
The robber took the money from a cash drawer and then searched for the keys to a safe, according to the report. He found a restaurant employee, Robert Castillo, in the freezer of the restaurant and demanded the safe keys, according to the report. Castillo told Carter he did have the keys and Carter fled out the back door, the report stated.
Aceves was released unharmed.
Castillo, who continues to work at the Jack in the Box on Spring Mountain Road, said he wasn't frightened by the incident and had forgotten most of the details of the crime. He declined to elaborate.
Aceves said she had a job interview the next day at the new Wynn hotel and casino and burst into tears during the interview process. Aceves said she will never step foot into another Jack in the Box restaurant.
A security camera allegedly caught surveillance of Carter committing the crimes, the police report noted.
A day after the robbery, two FBI agents examined trash bags outside Carter's residence that had been left for garbage collection services. The agents discovered a white T-shirt with circular holes cut out of it, according to the police report.
After further investigation, the authorities established that Carter left fingerprints at the scene of the crime so they moved forward with an arrest warrant Feb. 19.
Carter is of particular interest to the prosecution in the Jackson trial because of the testimony he previously gave to a grand jury last year in Santa Barbara, which allegedly confirms some of the accusations against Jackson.
During the grand jury proceedings, Carter testified that he saw Jackson and a youth drinking alcohol from a soda can on a flight from Miami to Santa Barbara in early 2003, according to transcripts of Carter's testimony before the grand jury, also posted on the Smoking Gun Web site.
Carter said he watched a flight attendant pouring "a clear liquor, like a vodka" in the soda can.
Carter said that Jackson referred to alcohol as "Jesus juice" because "Jesus drank wine, so we shall be more like Jesus," according to the court documents.
He also testified that when youths spent the night at the Neverland ranch, they would "mainly sleep with Mr. Jackson in Mr. Jackson's room."
Carter painted a picture of liberal alcohol use at the Neverland ranch, saying that some of the kids who visited Jackson's residence would grab keys to the wine cellar and "pull out whatever they wanted out, and then come run around with Mr. Jackson drinking," according to the court documents.
But Carter also testified that he never saw Jackson touch any of the youths inappropriately.
