Dugard's accused captor was arrested in 1972 rape

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and hiding her in a squalid backyard compound for 18 years was arrested in 1972 for raping a 14-year-old girl, but never faced prosecution because the victim refused to testify in court, police said on Thursday.

Phillip Garrido's 37-year-old rape arrest was unknown to police investigating Dugard's abduction until the victim, who is now in her 50s, saw his picture during sensational media coverage over the past week and contacted them.

Garrido, 58, and his wife Nancy, 54, are charged with snatching Dugard from a street near her South Lake Tahoe home on June 10, 1991, when she was 11 years old.

Authorities say Garrido fathered two girls with Dugard, who is now 29, and kept all three concealed in a maze of sheds and tents behind his home near the town of Antioch, California.

Dugard was found last week after Garrido, who served 10 years in prison for the 1976 rape of another woman, aroused the suspicion of police at a college campus.

The victim in the 1972 rape case told police that she and a friend met Garrido, then 21, at the Antioch Public Library, where he offered them a ride and gave them barbiturates.

"She ended up at a motel with Mr. Garrido after being given more barbiturates," Antioch police Lt. Leonard Orman said. "She basically awoke and found herself there and was repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted at that time."

Orman said Garrido was arrested in the rape but that charges were dropped because the girl would not testify.

Meanwhile Dugard's aunt, Tina Dugard, told reporters the kidnapping victim had spent her first week of freedom with family members.

"Jaycee and her daughters are with her mom and younger sister in a secluded place, reconnecting," she said. "Jaycee remembers all of us. She is especially enjoying getting to know her little sister, who was just a baby when Jaycee was taken."

Tina Dugard described the last week as a "joyous time" for the family despite the horrific nature of Jaycee's ordeal, adding: "The smile on my sister's face is as wide as the sea. her oldest daughter is finally home."

She described Jaycee's daughters, who are 11 and 15 years old, as "articulate, curious girls who have a bright future."

"Although they have had no formal education they are educated," she said. "Jaycee did a truly amazing job with the limited resources and education she herself had."

In an interview with the Orange County Register, Tina Dugard said Jaycee had taught the two girls to read and write.

"It's clear they've been on the Internet and know a lot of things," Tina Dugard told the newspaper, saying one of the girls identified constellations in the night sky and the other pointed out nasturtiums and told her they were edible. She said the girls had been shielded from media coverage in the case.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)