Phillip Garrido May Have Been Involved in Tax Evasion

If the Berkeley officer, Ally Jacobs, never exposed Phillip Garrido in the Jaycee Dugard case, he may have been apprehended by authorities anyhow. According to Contra Costa County records Garrido stopped paying property taxes in 2004. Technically the property, 1554 Walnut Avenue in Antioch, is still deeded to Phillip’s mother Patricia Franzen. Franzen has allegedly been heavily influenced by dementia. Since she was left in Garrido’s care it’s safe to assume that payment of the taxes would have been Phillip Garrido’s responsibility.

Currently, there is a secured tax lien on the property in excess of $7,000. With the current housing recession in mind, Garrido may or may not have been able to repay the tax lien. If the tax lien was never paid the County would have eventually taken and sold 1554 Walnut Avenue. Even if Garrido had over $7,000 to repay the full redemption amount, the pattern of non-payment for the past 5 years casts serious doubt on whether payment plans were in the property’s future.

Since the deed is still recorded in Patricia’s name any legal civil lawsuit claims to the property by the Dugard family will be met with legal uncertainty. Did Franzen know that Jaycee was being held captive? Can Patricia’s claim of dementia be proven or disproven? These are the types of questions that must be answered in order for a Dugard civil lawsuit to successfully acquiescence the property.

It’s still unclear on how Patricia plans to dispose of the estate. Hopefully Franzen will sell the property and give the proceeds to the Dugard Family Trust. Still, the $7,000 tax lien will have to paid before any proceeds could be contributed to the Dugard family. The property is currently assessed at $114,931. The Grove recently published an estimate that the home might be worth anywhere between $700,000 to $1,200,000. This amount might be a bit over estimated now that the initial shock of the whole situation has been realized. Still, a starting bid of about $350,000 is not far fetched.

Some news media blogs have recently speculated that ex-criminal homes often sell for less than fair market value. Garrido/Franzen’s home is a bit different and would probably sell for more than fair market value. Since the estate would normally be appraised at about $200,000 or less it’s hard to imagine a price drop because of the ‘Ex-criminal celebrity factor’.

Some famous criminal celebrity homes might actually sell for less than normal fair market value. However, because the Garrido house isn’t worth very much to begin with it’s doubtful the property would sell for less. Considering how successful recent ‘fringe Vloggers‘ have been it’s not hard to imagine what kind of ad revenue might be generated by broadcasting live from Jaycee’s ex prison.

The haunting question about the home’s deed remains, why wasn’t the deed in Garrido’s name? If Franzen is truly an invalid it could be argued that the home should be transferred by (or to) her legal guardian. However, Phillip Garrido, the likely guardian, never recorded the home in his name. Could this be yet another tactic by a creepy child molester to hide his identity? If Garrido’s plan really was to start an elementary home school it makes perfect sense why he would want to have Franzen remain on the deed.

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