She lived 18 years as a sex slave ... is now suing the U.S. government

Jaycee Dugard spent 18 years kidnapped by a couple who used her as a sex slave. In 2009 was released and her kidnappers were sentenced to long prison terms. Now, the victim went to court to demand accountability from the authorities.

The Californian, 31, filed Thursday in federal court a suit for damages against the U.S. government, accusing the authorities to have committed gross negligence during the investigations.

According to the newspaper today published "San Francisco Chronicle," police estimated Dugard made mistakes in monitoring their captor, who had previous convictions for sexual offenses.

Dugard was kidnapped in the street when she was 11 years Phillip Garrido, 60 years today, and his wife Nancy, 55.

For nearly two decades, was kept in a hideout in the backyard of the couple's home, who raped and abused her repeatedly. The victim gave birth to two girls as a teenager.

Police officers who supervised probation Garrido visited the couple's home to perform routine checks and came even to talk to Dugard and her oldest daughter.

However, the situation aroused their suspicions and therefore dispensed verifying the identity of the young mother and her daughters, and their relationship with Garrido.

It was not until August 2009 that Dugard and her daughters were found in a locality near the city of Antioch, Garrido. Last June, Garrido was sentenced to 431 years in prison and his wife to 36 years.

The state of California and last year awarded compensation to Dugard 20 million dollars. The woman's lawyer, Dale Kinsella, said Dugard and much of the money spent on their daughters, as well as pay court costs.

Dugard published in July in the United States her autobiography "A Stolen Life" one of the most spectacular kidnapping cases in American history now lives in northern California with her two daughters.