Jaycee Dugard to get $20 million in settlement

(07-02) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - --

Kidnapping victim Jaycee Dugard and the two children authorities say she had with her alleged abductor - a paroled sex offender - will receive a $20 million payout from the state under a settlement lawmakers approved Thursday.

Dugard, now 30, was kidnapped in 1991 from South Lake Tahoe when she was 11 years old and discovered in Phillip Garrido's backyard Antioch compound in August.

In a claim filed against the California Department of Corrections in February, Dugard and her family accused the agency of "various lapses," and said she and her family suffered "psychological, physical and emotional injury" while she was held as a virtual sex slave for nearly two decades. Her children are now 12 and 15 years old.

Dugard's alleged abductor, convicted kidnapper and rapist Garrido, was on parole in California for a decade of her captivity. In the claim, Dugard said she would have been discovered sooner if the department and agents had effectively monitored Garrido.

Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 54, have been charged with 29 criminal counts in connection with the case and have pleaded not guilty.

A joint statement from the state Department of Justice and Dugard said the $20 million will "help them reunite with their family and obtain the services and treatment that they need to overcome their ordeal in an environment that is free from unwanted press scrutiny."

Both houses of the Legislature overwhelmingly approved the settlement. The state Assembly passed the bill 70-2, with seven members not voting, and the Senate voted 30-1 in favor, with eight members not voting. A spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he plans to sign the bill.

"There are two elements to this appropriations - one, the state recognized the significant risk of proceeding with a jury trial," said Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar (Los Angeles County), the bill's sponsor. "But equally important is the recognition, acknowledgement, that the state absolutely needs to account for the lifetime health care, counseling and education to these folks for these horrible, unimaginable acts."

E-mail Marisa Lagos at mlagos@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle