Fired Nanny Sets Conditions for Moving Out in Email to Family's Lawyer
Diane Stretton blames media, the weather and ailments for failure to leave.
— -- The fired California nanny who wouldn't leave is blaming the weather, the media and physical disabilities as the reasons she hasn't moved out of her former employers' home, but said she will be out by July 4 - under certain conditions, according to an email she sent to her employer's lawyer.
But Marcella Bracamonte, who fired Diane Stretton earlier this month, thinks Stretton's demands are a ploy.
“I don’t believe her. She is going to show up when I am not here with a bunch of food and water and she will barricade herself in her room,” Bracamonte said.
“I want her to leave by tomorrow, Tuesday 4 p.m. I am not going to play games with this lady,” she said.
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Stretton, 64, was hired by Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte in early March to help care for their three children in exchange for room and board. After several weeks, Stretton stopped working and said she was unable to perform her job because health problems and only came out of her room to eat, the Bracamontes claim. The family asked Stretton to sign a letter on June 6 giving her 30 days to leave, but Stretton threatened to sue the family for elder abuse and improper firing, Marcella Bracamonte said.
In an email sent this weekend to Marc Cohen, the Bracamontes' lawyer, Stretton said she tried to move out of the house but there was "always a bunch of news vehicles right in front of the house. The media needs to be completely gone before I continue moving."
She said her departure will now be delayed by a coming heat wave. "The temperature over the next 5 days is expected to be near 100 degrees. I can't work in that kind of heat," she wrote in her email.
Stretton said in her email that she wants to be able to sleep in the Bracamonte home for three more nights and to be able to shower in their bathroom.
"If the media stays away, I will be out by the 4th of July. But that depends on the circus not continuing," she wrote.
The Bracamontes have plans to be away for July 4, but Marcella Bracamonte does not intend to leave her house unattended.
“I have my sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws and their children, so at least seven people will be here,” she told ABC News.
Stretton disappeared from the Bracamontes' house Thursday morning and was later discovered in her car outside of a police station on Friday. She has refused to speak to the media, hiding under window screen.
During Stretton's standoff with the Bracamontes, her litigious past has emerged. She has a long history with litigation and is listed on California's Vexatious Litigant List, which includes people who have been found to bring legal action that is frivolous or repetitive.
The majority of the lawsuits were directed at her own family members, particularly her two sisters. According to documents, Stretton tried to block her sisters from selling family property.
Last year, Stretton even sued her son, Michael, according to court records, and a car rental agency for property damage and personal injury in connection with a motor vehicle accident.
Court documents show that when Stretton's father, John Richardson, died in 2000, his will included Stretton's two sisters, Donna Tobey and Sharon Freeburn. Richardson "specifically and expressly omitted Stretton," according to court documents.Stretton has not returned calls from ABC News.