Review targets parole lapses in Calif. kidnap case

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California's inspector general is reviewing whether lapses in the state's parole system allowed Jaycee Dugard's alleged kidnapper to go undetected for 18 years, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

"We all are shaking our heads, saying the same thing: 'How did this happen?"' said Laura Hill, spokeswoman for Inspector General David Shaw.

Hill said five or six parole agents monitored Phillip Garrido during the 10 years he was under California's control as a convicted rapist. He previously was under federal parole supervision for eight years.

Authorities say he was hiding Dugard in the backyard of his Antioch home the whole time.

Garrido is charged with kidnapping Dugard outside her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991, when she was 11 years old. She resurfaced last month, along with two daughters allegedly fathered by Garrido.

"We're not so much focused about what one parole officer did wrong, but what went wrong," Hill said.

The investigation is important "so that nothing like this happens again," she said. "So if there are changes to be made at the system level, the department knows what they are."

The report will be completed within 30 days, she said.

Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Oscar Hidalgo welcomed the external investigation, but said the department is conducting its own review.

"We're always going to look to see if there's any problems, even if we believe we're 100 percent right," Hidalgo said. "It would not be prudent of us not to follow up and make sure all of the processes were followed."

Hidalgo said it appears parole agents made the proper visits to Garrido's home for years without discovering the victim and her children hidden behind a second backyard fence. He credited Garrido's current parole agent with uncovering Dugard's identity after Garrido's behavior with his two daughters caught the attention of University of California, Berkeley campus police.

"We're looking at what the agent did very well, and what the agent did very well was he arrested this guy," Hidalgo said. "He followed up on his instincts. He attacked quite aggressively once his suspicions were aroused."

The department has denied public records requests by The Associated Press and other media for Garrido's full parole file, citing government codes and regulations and confidential information within the file.

Hidalgo said the department plans to release more parole information, however, in cooperation with prosecutors.

"We're balancing the criminal prosecution ... with what the public appetite is for this to be shared," he said.