Violet Silva dismisses cited reasons for her departure from Neverland
Violet Silva, the fifteen-year veteran security chief of Neverland Valley Ranch, has taken a job with attorney Robert Sanger, a member of Michael Jackson's defense team that was instrumental in short-circuiting prosecutors during the child molestation case against the entertainer.
Contrary to a report by Internet gossiper Roger Friedman that she was part of employee departures due to missed payroll, Silva said that she joined the criminal defense firm of longtime friend Sanger to expand her career horizon. Her new job as an investigator began about three weeks ago.
Speaking with the Santa Barbara News-Press, Silva replayed: "I was presented with a tremendous opportunity and I took it. I left on very good terms. There are no bad feelings whatsoever."
Sanger said that he has the utmost respect for Silva, and that he is looking forward to working with her. "I feel fortunate to have been her friend for 13 years," he said.
The lawyer is a leader in the movement to abolish the death penalty, and convicted a judge that the old jury pool system of Santa Barbara County was unconstitutional.
Silva had been called to testify in the molestation trial of her former employer. She informed the jury that the accuser and his family were sympathetic figures when they initially arrived at the ranch; however, that changed within a year, with that sympathetic allure being replaced with "pretty reckless" behavior on the part of the accuser and his brother.
Upon prosecution cross-examination, Silva stated that as a mother she would not allow her children to be at Neverland for the lax rules there were in conflict with the manner by which she raised her children.
The State's case ultimately fell apart and Jackson was acquitted.
Before, during, and after the trial, reports (largely offered by Friedman) have swirled about missed payroll checks for Neverland employees, a possible sale of the property, employees leaving in massive numbers, and so on.
If any of this was happening, Silva said that it isn't unlike any other business.
"People are presented with opportunities, and if they're better, they take them," she said. "Sometimes it's as simple as the price of gas."
Regarding the latest "exodus" that had been reported on by Friedman on Thrusday, October 27th, Silva said, "I don't know. I don't ask. As accurate as the information about me was stated -- I am a 15-year employee, I did leave, and I am working for Bob Sanger -- it was linked to other people leaving, and it hurt my feelings because it just wasn't true."
Silva added that having worked at Neverland for so long, she grew close to many of the employees, from zookeepers to the "irrigation guys."
"The Neverland employees were my second family. I have great affection for the employees there. I describe them as courageous and loyal," she said.
The five-month trial of their boss, which ended on June 13, 2005, tested that loyalty.
"We were a strong group, but with the story of Mr. Jackson, of what he was being alleged of doing, it was difficult for the employees," Silva stated. "All the employees gave 100 percent all the time, and probably more than 100 percent during some very difficult times."
In the end, she said, "We all stuck together.
"My leaving had nothing to do with the alleged problems Roger Friedman thinks are happening there, and there is no dissatisfaction," she said.
Thursday's report by Friedman suggested that six employees who had purportedly quit over the past couple of months did so because "everyone is pissed," according to a cited and unidentified so-called insider. Silva was inexplicably attached to this group that has allegedly trickled out of Neverland due to these missed payroll cheques.
Silva said that divulging too much bordered on the personal and that was a place into which she did not want to venture.
"I am just so amazed that anyone would have any interest in me whatsoever," she said. "All I wanted to do was defend my position (at Neverland). I'm tired of people making up stories about who I am, what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.
"I left Neverland feeling that every experience, whether it was positive or negative, was a successful experience for me."
Source: Santa Barbara News-Press/ MJJForum/ eMJey