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They were the all-American family looking for help with their three young children.
Upland couple Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte posted an ad on Craigslist seeking a nanny in exchange for room and board. Instead, they got Diane Stretton, who at first pretended to be their nanny, but is now squatting in their home.
The couple said they called Stretton’s references and checked her background.
“We hired this person that was somebody we thought we could truly trust and allowed our kids to be with her,” Ralph Bracamonte said.
After a couple of weeks, Stretton started staying in her room.
The Bracamontes said they tried everything to get the unwanted nanny to leave, even turning off the cable and internet and locking the refrigerator at night.
But that only made things worse, the couple said.
Instead of leaving, the couple said Stretton is threatening to sue them for breach of contract, wrongful termination and false imprisonment.
When the Bracamontes contacted police, according to the couple, authorities said that law-enforcement officials could not get involved because Stretton had established residency in the home and the dispute was a civil matter.
“We own this house. We own it. Our names are on the title, not hers, and we can’t make her leave,” said Marcella Bracamonte. “I want everybody to know that you have no rights in your home. How is this legal? How is this America? How is this the land of the free?”
The couple claimed they recently discovered that the former employee had been involved in 37 lawsuits and had even sued several of her own family members.
Stretton has declined to comment on the matter. She approached the Upland home in a vehicle on Thursday evening but drove away after seeing members of the media in front of the house.
Agencies/Canadajournal
