Jaycee Dugard to California: Why Wasn't Anyone Watching the Garridos?
Photo: Phillip Garrido and Jaycee Dugard
Dugard, her two daughters by Phillip Garrido, and her mother Terry Probyn, have each filed forms against the Department of Corrections, claiming they endured "psychological and emotional injury" while held against their will by Phillip Garrido and his wife.
They submitted the forms in January within the standard 6 month time frame to file.
Garrido had been under parole supervision after he was convicted of raping a 25-year-old in 1977. Released in 1988, he was placed under federal supervision until 1999, when the state of California took over.
The state's Inspector General's Office says mistakes were made right away, beginning with Phillip Garrido being wrongly classified as a low-risk offender. Also, one agent did not try to confirm the identity of a young girl, presumably Dugard, who he saw at the house while on a visit, instead trusting Garrido's claim that she was his niece. California's Corrections Department has acknowledged serious errors in handling the case.
Prosecutors say Dugard was kidnapped in 1991 outside her South Lake Tahoe home and taken to Antioch, Calif. by the Garridos, where she had two daughters by Phillip Garrido and lived in a tent in the backyard.
Dugard's spokeswoman, Nancy Seltzer, said the family hasn't decided whether they'll file a lawsuit. "We are simply preserving Jaycee Dugard's right to file a lawsuit at a later date, if that is something she decides is in her family's best interest," Seltzer said.