Couple accused in Jaycee Dugard kidnapping indicted

Phillip Garrido had spent time in prison on a 1977 rape conviction

A US grand jury has indicted a couple accused of kidnapping and raping a young woman held captive for 18 years.

Phillip and Nancy Garrido are accused of abducting Jaycee Dugard in 1991 from a street near her California home, with Mr Garrido fathering her two daughters.

Meanwhile, the case against Mr Garrido has been suspended to evaluate his mental competency.

Ms Dugard was discovered and the couple arrested in August 2009. The state is to pay her $20m (£13m) in damages.

Officials said the couple were indicted in a process that spared Ms Dugard and her family from having to testify in a pre-trial hearing, the Associated Press reported.

The 18 counts against the couple include kidnapping for sexual purposes, rape, lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and production of child pornography with the victim, according to the indictment document.

In addition, Mr Garrido is charged under special allegations stemming from a 1977 rape conviction, including being a habitual sex offender.

Mrs Garrido entered a not guilty plea, the ABC News affiliate in Sacramento in California, reported. Mr Garrido was not formally charged, pending the evaluation of his mental status.