Investigators in the Michael Jackson child-sex case swooped in on a New Jersey man’s memorabilia collection last month, seizing six items as evidence.
Two pairs of the self-styled King of Pop’s underwear, photos and handwritten notes are among the items they took.
Under orders from Jackson’s Santa Barbara prosecutor, Tom Sneddon, agents removed the items about four weeks ago from a trove of souvenirs held at an Asbury Park warehouse by businessman Henry Vaccaro, The Post has learned.
Included in the haul were two pairs of white Calvin Klein briefs believed to contain Jackson’s bodily fluids that prosecutors hope will provide a sample of Jackson’s DNA.
Forensic investigators are expected to compare the sample with those found on his mattress and on other items removed from his Neverland Ranch during a raid last Nov. 18.
Probers also removed a yellow, undated, handwritten note Jackson allegedly wrote to youngsters visiting in his fantasy-themed compound in which he referred to them as “rubbers.”
“Dear Rubbers, I had to go. See you later. Love, M.J.,” the note read.
Vaccaro, an Asbury Park construction executive, said three investigators from the prosecutor’s office of New Jersey’s Monmouth County visited and took the underpants only hours after he was contacted by Sneddon’s DA office in Santa Barbara, Calif.
“They were interested in some things, and asked me to keep a few others in case they need them,” Vaccaro said.
Several days later, officers from the Santa Barbara sheriff’s office arrived and removed several other items, including two photos of Jackson posing with young boys, Vaccaro said.
Sneddon’s probers also carted off a so-called “club kit” for his “rubbers.”
The name of one possible member turned up on a primitive “Rubberhead Club Portfolio” found in Vaccaro’s collection.
The collection contained badges, membership cards and a multiple copies of a typewritten membership contract that laid out 14 “rules.”
The “rules” required members to be “idiots and act crazy at all times;” be vegetarians who fast on Sundays and avoid drugs; watch two episodes of the Three Stooges daily; know the Peter Pan story by heart; and when seeing another member, “give the peace sign, and then half of it.”
Also taken by investigators was an undated note scrawled on yellow paper in which Jackson urged his sister-in-law, known as DeDe, to read a news article on child molestation to her kids.
“It brings out how even your own relatives can be molesters of children, or even uncles or aunts molesting nephews or nieces,” the note said.
The pieces of potential evidence ended up in Vaccaro’s hands when he won a collection of Jacko memorabilia in a lengthy court battle.
He sued members of the Jackson family over a failed joint business venture that he says cost him $1.4 million.
Hidden among the flashy costumes, the invitations to perform for Queen Elizabeth II, and sheet music for songs such as “We Are the World” were drawings and handwritten notes that unveil a talented, driven man obsessed with achievement – and young boys.
Vaccaro found among the memorabilia a Norman Rockwell painting of barely dressed lads running from a water hole entitled “No Swimming,” a caricature sketch of an idealized boy, and a blue and yellow California license plate with the personalized motto “All Boys.”
Also included was a gift bag given to visitors to Neverland which contained a watch, Michael Jackson buttons, and a copy of a dark, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem titled “The Children’s Hour.”
The poem likens children to starving mice who descend on a castle filled with food at twilight.
“They climb up into my turret, O’er the arms of my chair,” the 19th century American poet wrote. “If I try to escape, they surround me; they seem to be everywhere.
“They almost devour me with kisses, their arms about me entwine.”
Jackson’s interest in plastic surgery was also evident – sketches of a wide nose and a narrow one with a tiny triangle at the tip were found in Vaccaro’s collection.
Two tubes of a skin-bleaching agent called “Eldopaque” were also found.
An envelope entitled “mental program” held a signed diagram of a human brain in which areas were pinpointed supposedly corresponding with Jackson’s desire to become “the greatest actor, singer, dancer of all time.”
A note written as if it were a “to do” list showed Jackson’s lofty goals included buying a baseball team and a football team and to rake in $30 million.
His materialism stood in stark contrast to his Jehovah’s Witness background, as shown in a 27-page booklet in which he quoted Bible lessons.
“We are sinners, so we have to beat our bodies so we will not sin,” he wrote.
Vaccaro said he kept the merchandise in the New Jersey warehouse until making a deal in December to sell many of the possessions to a European buyer.
Before shipping off five Jackson costumes, gold and platinum records, sheet music and thousands of other items in February, he was contacted by a prosecutor from Sneddon’s office and instructed to hold certain pieces back.
Sneddon and investigators involved in seizing the material could not be reached for comment yesterday.
A copy of several pages from a civil suit against Jackson, dated Sept. 14, 1993, also surfaced in Vaccaro’s collection.
It alleged Jackson committed “sexual battery, seduction, willful misconduct, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and negligence” during his relationship with a 13-year-old boy.
Jackson was accused of “forcing plaintiff to comply with [his] sexual demands and other demands so that [Jackson] could satisfy his lust, passions and sexual desires.”
Those desires included Jackson’s masturbating the boy, performing oral sex on him and having him fondle Jackson’s nipples while Jackson pleasured himself, the complaint alleged.
The sexual encounters caused the teen “great mental, physical, and nervous pain and suffering and emotional distress,” the complaint charged.
Before the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit became public, the case was settled out of court.