16 days ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - After serving 11 years in prison for a rape conviction and living under federal supervision, Phillip Garrido was supposed to be under the watchful eye of California parole officers from 1998 to 2009.
But during that time, Garrido allegedly kidnapped 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard in 1991 and kept her hidden in the backyard of his Antioch home until her discovery this summer -- 18 years later.
The California Office of the Inspector General will release a report Wednesday, citing what mistakes may have been made by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in its handling of Garrido's parole. Click here for the 2 p.m. conference on news10.net.
"I have no sense of embarrassment from my department," said Scott Kernan of the CDCR, a few days after Garrido was arrested. "I think (the department) acted appropriately, and I'm very proud of the officer, and how our agency responded in this case."
One Sacramento legal expert says it's easy to see why California's parole agency had trouble following Garrido. "I can tell you right now what happened without reading that report," said Sacramento criminal defense attorney Bill Portanova.
"What happened is, nobody had enough time to do the job they're assigned to do. There is no doubt that the end report is going to say (the CDCR) had too many cases, and nobody could do as good a job as they would have done had they had more manpower. That's the standard response from every government agency that fails," Portanova said.
Portanova says the trouble is in the system; too many non-violent offenders are put in the same class as violent sex offenders, like Garrido.
"There are violent, sexually destructive, assaultive predators who should be given 1,000 times more attention than all the other felons. But they're getting the same attention because they're felons," Portanova said.
Garrido was convicted of rape in Nevada, was paroled in 1988, then returned to federal custody for a few months, followed by federal parole supervision. Garrido's parole was later transferred to California in 1999.
The Inspector General's report will focus on the years Garrido spent under California supervision. It will not include any findings from the 11 years he spent supervised by federal and Nevada agencies. It was during his time under federal parole supervision that Garrido allegedly kidnapped Dugard in South Lake Tahoe.
Written by Will Frampton, wframpton@news10.net.
KXTV/News10
