'Vilified' Nanny Says Employer Tried to Feed Her Dog Food

Diane Stretton wants police escort while she retrieves possessions.

ByABC News
July 2, 2014, 11:40 AM

— -- For days, nanny Diane Stretton declined to speak about accusations that she refused to move out after she was dismissed, but she has begun to defend herself with a round of interviews in which she says that her former employers have "vilified" her and tried to feed her dog food.

Stretton left the Upland, Calif., home of Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte last week, but still has her possessions in a bedroom in the family's house.

The Bracamontes claim that after hiring Stretton in early March to help take care of their three kids in exchange for room and board, Stretton told the family she had physical problems that made it impossible for her to work and stopped coming out of her room except for meals. When given 30 days to leave, Stretton, 64, refused to leave and accused them of elder abuse and improper firing, the Bracamontes said.

Police refused to intervene saying the family needed to legally evict Stretton.

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Stretton blamed Marcella Bracamonte for the angry standoff.

"She's vilified me, and really destroyed my life," she told ABC News' Los Angeles affiliate KABC. "It'll be difficult for me to ever rent a place now that she's done this to me."

"I always told myself that I would fight if anyone ever tried to victimize me. And this lady has tried to victimize not just me, but my whole family. And I will fight. And you're not going to take us down," she told the station.

The nanny said she is willing to move out, but under certain conditions.

"What I'd like to do is just have a police officer there and have them [Bracamontes] vacate, have the police officer see that I am only taking stuff from my room," Stretton said.

In an interview with KTLA-TV, Stretton said that Marcella Bracamonte tried to feed her dog food.

"She gave the kids three cans of dog food and told them to put it outside my room for my food,” Stretton told KTLA.

Marc Cohen, a lawyer for the Bracamontes, said Stretton's accusations are not true.

The Bracamontes intend to be away over July 4 for a family event, but Marcella Bracamonte said she has asked relatives to babysit the house while the family is gone.

Earlier this week, Stretton said she quit before she was fired and wanted certain conditions met before she moved out, including being allowed to sleep in the house several more nights, use the shower and have the media go away from the house.

During Stretton's standoff with the Bracamontes, her litigious past has emerged. She has a long history of 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,"