By revealing dark secrets kept hidden by individuals, background checks can help solve crimes. The ability of background checks to uncover past misdeeds and prevent future crimes was proven once again in a shocking story from California about a missing child case that – unlike most others – ended happily when a background check helped reveal a kidnapper and crack the “cold case” of a girl kidnapped in 1991.

As reported by CNN, Jaycee Lee Dugard, now 29, who was kidnapped from a bus stop in front of her house in South Lake Tahoe, California when she was eleven years old, has been found alive and her alleged kidnappers – 58-year-old Phillip Garrido, a paroled sex offender, and his wife, Nancy – are in custody and face more than two dozen counts of kidnapping, rape, false imprisonment, and other charges in connection with Dugard’s abduction.

CNN reported that during her eighteen years in captivity, Dugard gave birth to two daughters, now aged 15 and 11, fathered by Garrido, and that she and her children were kept in an isolated backyard compound made up of tents and sheds behind Garrido’s home in Antioch, California.

The investigation went years without progress, but a break in the case came when, according to CNN, Garrido appeared at the University of California at Berkeley campus with his two daughters to hand out literature. Two alert Campus Police officers – identified by a school spokesman as Allison Jacobs and Lisa Campbell – thought the interaction between the older Garrido and the two young females looked suspicious, so they ran a background check on him, CNN reported.

The background check revealed that Garrido was on federal parole for a 1971 conviction for rape and kidnapping, and had served time in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, according to CNN. The two women passed on the information from the background check to Garrido's parole officer, who was surprised when the supposedly childless Garrido arrived at his office accompanied by his wife, two daughters, and a female named “Allissa” who authorities ultimately identified as Dugard, CNN reported.

That fact that a background check performed by alert officers following “gut instincts” and “female intuition” led to the rescue of a kidnapped woman and her children is proof that background checks are a vital part of modern security. If a background check had not been performed on Garrido, his dark secret may have remained undiscovered, the cold case could have remained unsolved, and Dugard and her two children would still be held captive.

Pre-employ.com is a nationally recognized provider of background checks and pre-employment screening for the government, health care facilities, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and Fortune 1000 companies. For more information about background checks, visit www.pre-employ.com, email info@pre-employ.com, or call 1-800-300-1821. To follow Pre-Employ on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/PreEmploy.

tahearn@pre-employ.com
 

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