Cops Searched Kidnapper's House, Found Nothing

Phillip Garrido had several brushes with the law during the 18 years that police say he held Jaycee Lee Dugard and their two children captive in his backyard, but managed to keep his ugly secret, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Last July, a multi-agency police task force searched Garrido's home as part of a routine check on the registered sex offender. But the search apparently stopped at his back fence, which separated the Dugard compound from the rest of the house.

The task force was unaware of a complaint made earlier about the tents and sheds in Garrido’s backyard, made by a neighbor who suspected he was illegally renting space to tenants. Sheriff’s deputies questioned Garrido at the time, but they informed the neighbor that without a warrant, they couldn’t search the entire premises. Garrido was also suspected of bilking another neighbor out of his $18,000 life savings.
(More Phillip Garrido stories.)