Kidnap Victim’s Mother Sues California

SACRAMENTO (CN) - Kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard's mother sued the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, claiming it inappropriately classified her daughter's abductor as a low-risk parolee and failed to inspect his home, where he kept her daughter in "makeshift buildings, tents and other structures in his back yard."

Dugard was held captive for 18 years and allegedly "endured severe sexual, physical and psychological torture" from Phillip Garrido, who fathered two children with her while she was imprisoned.

Dugard's mother, Terry Probyn, says that for most of the time that she was separated from her daughter, Dugard "was imprisoned in Garrido's back yard, while Garrido was being supervised by CDCR, until finally being rescued on or about Aug. 26, 2009."

Despite parole officers' visits to Garrido's home, Dugard was not freed "from her horrific ordeal, continuing to prevent plaintiff from any access to her long-lost daughter," according to the Superior Court complaint.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation issued a 45-page report in November 2009, acknowledging that it had "repeatedly failed to properly classify and supervise parolee Garrido during the decade it supervised him," and "missed numerous opportunities to discover Garrido's victims."

Probyn says the state should have classified Garrido as a "high control" parolee; that it failed to "conduct the minimum number of visits required" to his home; and that it failed to monitor Garrido on a GPS device that issued alerts "indicating that Garrido was not following parole instructions

The state also failed to refer Garrido for a mental assessment, or to "provide proper supervision over parole agents who were assigned to overseeing Garrido," the lawsuit claims.

The agency overlooked Garrido's criminal past, Probyn says, which included arrests for the rape of a 14-year-old girl and her friend in 1972, the kidnapping and rape of a 19-year-old woman in 1976, and the kidnapping and rape of a woman in Lake Tahoe in 1976. Garrido was convicted in a Nevada Federal Court in 1977 for the Lake Tahoe kidnapping and rape, resulting in a 50-year sentence, and was also "tried on the state level and sentenced to an additional five years," according to the complaint.

Garrido served 11 years of the 50-year federal term and was "paroled from federal prison on or about Jan. 20, 1988, when he was released to Nevada authorities to serve his state sentence," the complaint states. Garrido was paroled 8 months into his state sentence, and less than 3 years into his parole, "he kidnapped plaintiff's daughter and kept her captive and away from plaintiff during and after his parole was transferred to CDCR in 1999," Probyn says.

Dugard, who is not named in this complaint, was kidnapped on June 10, 1991 near Probyn's home in South Lake Tahoe, allegedly by Garrido and his wife, Nancy. She was not rescued until Aug. 26, 2009, after Garrido brought her and their two children to "a public location raising suspicion and leading to his eventual arrest," Probyn says.

The Garridos were indicted on 18 counts each of kidnapping, forcible rape, lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment, and possession of child pornography. Nancy Garrido pleaded not guilty in September; Phillip Garrido has not yet entered a plea after being found competent to stand trial.

Probyn seeks general and special damages for failure to discharge mandatory duties, negligence, negligent hiring, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

She is represented by Nina Salarno Ashford with California Victim Advocates.

Follow @jamierossCNS

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