SANTA MARIA, Calif. — A former Neverland security guard broke down in tears as he revealed to jurors Monday that his family was targeted with death threats shortly after he testified about Michael Jackson's alleged sexual misconduct during a 1994 investigation.

"They threatened to kill my family," said witness Kassim Abdool. The ominous callers, he said, alternated between terrorizing his family and lingering on the line without saying a word.

Abdool paused for a sip of water, wiped away tears, and then told jurors that he was so frightened he asked police to place his family in the witness protection program.

Prosecutors contend that his damaging testimony in a May 1994 grand jury hearing set off the threatening calls. That testimony, which he repeated for jurors in Jackson's molestation trial Monday, revolved around the singer's alleged sexual pursuit of a young boy named Jordie Chandler.

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Chandler was a frequent sleepover guest at Neverland before his family received a more than $20 million settlement from the singer. The criminal investigation against Jackson in that case was reluctantly dropped by prosecutors and he was never charged.

Jackson is currently on trial for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003 and conspiring to falsely imprison the boy and his family at Neverland. He is also accused of plying the boy with wine in order to commit the sexual acts. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors have been given some latitude to introduce evidence about the singer's prior "bad acts" in an effort to demonstrate an alleged criminal pattern. To that end, a string of former Neverland employees have testified that their erstwhile employer took liberties with at least two young boys whom he entertained as sleepover guests at his sprawling ranch.

Abdool, a graveyard shift security supervisor at Neverland from 1991 to 1994, told jurors that in 1993 he saw Jackson having a late-night frolic in a Jacuzzi with Chandler, before the two headed into a private restroom.

When they emerged, Chandler was "piggyback" on Jackson, towels covered their midsections, and Jackson carried the boy into his house, locking the doors behind him, Abdool said.

"I never recalled Mr. Jackson locking the house," the witness said. "We normally lock the doors when he goes to bed."

Abdool later walked into the restroom and saw two pairs of swim trunks on the wet blue-stone floor. The trunks were "close to each other," he said, indicating a distance of about 2 feet with his hands.

Abdool's account appeared to corroborate the testimony of former security guard Ralph Chacon, who also said he saw the Jacuzzi incident and let his curiosity get the better of him. Chacon gave jurors some of the most graphic testimony so far when he said he peeked into the restroom that night and saw Jackson kneeling down to perform oral sex on the naked boy.

Both men, however, are among five former employers who sold their stories to a tabloid for $15,000 and then used the cash to launch a wrongful termination civil suit against the singer.

"Instead of putting that money in your pocket, you chose to use it to fund your lawsuit against Mr. Jackson, where you were going to get millions?" defense attorney Thomas Mesereau asked Abdool.

"Yes, sir," he replied.

"And obviously, it turned out to be a poor investment?" Mesereau shot back.

The question was stricken, but the point was clear — Abdool and his colleagues ultimately lost the six-month long civil suit and were ordered to pay $1.4 million in a countersuit.

Special forces

In an effort to bolster their charge that Jackson's aides used threats and intimidation to hold the current accuser's family against their will, District Attorney Thomas Sneddon drew comparisons between Abdool's mysterious callers and Jackson's camp.

"Were you ever indirectly threatened by the OSS?" Sneddon asked the witness.

"Yes, sir," Abdool replied.

Sneddon appeared to be suggesting that the callers were members of the Office of Special Security, or OSS, Jackson's elite, armed personal bodyguards who began to supplant Abdool and his unarmed colleagues at Neverland Ranch in the mid-1990s.

OSS heavies, according to Abdool, liked to brag about the Jackson groupies they beat up and the hit men they knew in Europe. He said he saw one pull a gun and point it at the head of a fan who approached the Neverland gates. The armed guards' treatment of Abdool and Chacon later became part of their claims of emotional distress in the civil suit.

"They would walk past my office, outside the door," Abdool testified. "They would just stare at me and not say anything."

Abdool also testified that before his grand jury testimony, he was asked to meet with Jackson's attorneys three times, that he signed statements saying he never saw any inappropriate sexual activity and that Jackson raised his salary an additional $1,000 a month in an alleged attempt to buy his allegiance.

But Mesereau used his signed statement against him during cross-examination, including a written assertion that he trusted Jackson so much that he'd have no trouble leaving his own children, aged 9 and 13, alone with the singer.

Ex-wife's alleged bargain

Judge Rodney Melville cleared the way for prosecutors to call Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe to the stand this week as the prosecution hits the final stretch of its case against the pop star.

Rowe is the mother of two of Jackson's children, Prince Michael, 8, and Paris, 7. The couple's three-year marriage ended in divorce in 1999, and the children live with Jacksonl.

According to prosecutors, Rowe will testify that she agreed to take part in a highly scripted television interview praising Jackson's parenting skills in exchange for visitation with her children.

Rowe's testimony is meant to lend credence to the mother of Jackson's accuser, who testified that she also agreed to take part in a scripted interview praising the singer because she feared for her family's safety.

Both women's interviews were meant to help rebut the damaging 2003 Martin Bashir documentary, "Living with Michael Jackson," in which the singer is seen holding hands with his accuser.

In other developments, defense attorney Brian Oxman was dismissed from Jackson's team Monday after a clerk handed him substitution of attorney papers. Mesereau also filed a notice of disassociation with the court, effective April 21.

Oxman, a longtime adviser to the Jackson family, was seen having a heated discussion with Mesereau after court Monday, with the white-maned lead attorney wagging his finger at his former co-counsel.

Prosecutors also announced that former Jackson bodyguard Chris Carter will not be called to the stand. Carter was expected to testify that he saw Jackson's accuser drunk at Neverland, however, he is currently facing armed robbery and bank robbery charges in Nevada.