By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
Kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard has filed a claim against the U.S. government over failings by federal parole agents to detect her presence in the home of sex offender Phillip Garrido from 1991 through 1999, according to her publicist.
Dugard, kidnapped by Garrido in 1991 when she was 11, already has won a $20 million settlement from the state for failings by California parole agents who supervised Garrido from 1999 until she was discovered alive two years ago and freed.
Now, her publicist says she has filed a claim seeking payment for the period during which federal parole agents were supposed to be supervising Garrido at his Antioch-area home.
Reviews of his parole supervision have resulted in scathing criticisms of both state and federal agents for failing to detect her presence in his Antioch-area home.
Dugard, who wrote a best-selling book about her ordeal, is not seeking the money for herself, publicist Nancy Seltzer said, but wants to direct it to a non-profit foundation she started.
"The foundation uses amongst other resources, animal assisted therapy and has indeed already provided its first reunification therapeutic services for a mother and her daughter who was recently returned home after having been abducted," Seltzer said in an announcement today.
Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy, pleaded guilty earlier this year to the kidnapping and are in prison.
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