www.contracostatimes.com/jayceedugard/ci_13256245?nclick_check=1
For 15 years Phillip Garrido printed business cards and flyers for Gomes, president of the nonprofit child safety group National Community Empowerment Programs. He once suggested safety tips she could add to a kidnapping prevention flyer. "He said 'Children should never go to a bus stop alone,'" Gomes said.
More related stories After decades working with criminals and gang members as a youth counselor and child safety advocate, Janice Gomes says her instincts about people are usually pretty good. He printed Gomes' business cards for 15 years and created fliers for her nonprofit work with the National Community Empowerment Program. On a job in 2000, a kidnapping-prevention fact sheet, Garrido chimed in with suggestions for Gomes. "He said, 'Children should never go to a bus stop alone,'" Gomes said. Gomes said Garrido went on to dispel the idea that children are safer traveling in groups. "He said, 'If an adult approaches a group, they all scatter and you just grab one. "I've never gotten the impression anyone I'm talking to is talking from experience," she said. But she did observe the same bizarre behavior in Garrido that others recall: creepy or uncomfortable, but not dangerous. He would begin singing in the middle of conversations -- and in hindsight his song choice was chilling. Gomes Advertisement remembers him singing Madonna, including her hit "Like a Virgin." "That's really freaky now when you think of it," she said. But Gomes liked Garrido's work so much -- his low prices didn't hurt -- that she overlooked his oddness, as well as the frequent spelling mistakes that appeared on business cards. Gomes said Alissa, the professional-sounding woman who answered Garrido's phone, was always apologetic about the mistakes and rushed to fix them. Alissa was the name authorities say Dugard used when she was brought into the Concord Police station Aug. Gomes, who has done work over the years with Marc Klaas, father of kidnap and murder victim Polly Klaas, also referred Garrido's services to family members periodically. "He starts singing to her, scares her half to death, and said 'Why don't you come over to my house Wednesday night for Bible study,'" Gomes said. Apparently, God didn't tell him he was being arrested on Wednesday."
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