15 days ago
ANTIOCH, CA - In the wake of a report admonishing the state Department of Corrections for lapses in its parole oversight of alleged kidnapper and rapist Phillip Garrido, there was a mixed reaction Wednesday from the people who lived on Garrido's usually quiet street in Contra Costa County.
While some reactions were predictably angry, others were more tolerant.
"They should have known what was going on down here," said John Wadkins.
"It's easy to place blame after the fact. I think Garrido was able to con and lie and fool everybody. How can you fault someone for being fooled?" said neighbor Rod Burn.
The Office of the Inspector General released its findings on the Garrido case Wednesday, blasting the Department of Corrections for how poorly it handled Garrido's parole.
It claimed the department failed to supervise Garrido, obtain key information from federal parole officials, supervise parole agents responsible for Garrido, among many other criticisms.
Garrido and his wife Nancy allegedly kept Jaycee Dugard captive at his Antioch home for the 18 years she was missing.
This isn't the first time a government agency admitted it mishandled Garrido. The Contra Costa County Sheriff earlier said his department needed to be "more curious," when it responded to a call about Garrido, a registered sex offender, having people living in his backyard.
Three years ago, a Contra Costa deputy responded to that call, but treated it as a code violation issue and didn't investigate the Garrido home or yard.
By Tim Daly, tdaly@news10.net
News10/KXTV
