By Steve Helling
07/09/2014 at 04:05 PM EDT
First things first: the nanny is still in the picture.
Little has changed for Diane Stretton, the nanny who made headlines for not vacating the home of her employers, Ralph and Marcella Bracamonte.
“I am not moved out,” Stretton tells PEOPLE. “One of the conditions I placed on moving out was privacy. I want [the Bracamonte's attorney] to guarantee me that I am not walking into another ambush and that all of the media is gone. I want to be treated with dignity and respect. Moving my things out is not entertainment.”
Marcella Bracamonte confirms that Stretton’s personal effects are still in a bedroom of the family’s 3,000-square-foot home in Upland, California. “I want things to calm down so that she can do what she said and leave,” she tells PEOPLE, “but she’s not returning phone calls or emails.”
It seems like both parties want Stretton to move out. So why hasn’t that happened?
A Problematic Agreement
The problem started with the initial agreement, which is one reason why Stretton felt entitled to the room for the month of June.
The Bracamontes placed a Craigslist ad seeking domestic help in February. “I am looking for someone long-term, who preferably gets a retirement and just wants to be a part of a family,” reads the ad, which was listed under housing. “There is no pay; just room and board.” When Stretton replied to the ad, the family say they conducted a background check and let her move in.
Ralph and Marcella Bracamonte
ABC
Stretton alleges that the family placed unreasonable demands on her time.
“My job description was to be a 6th grandma to these kids, love the kids like my own, and be a second pair of eyes and ears,” she says. “Our agreement specified that my cooking was limited and my cleaning was limited to dishes. That gradually changed as Marcella began demanding that I clean bathrooms and floors. Eventually, she abdicated all her wifely and motherly duties to me except sex and shopping.”
The Bracamontes counter that they didn’t expect much at all.
“What we asked of her was very light,” says Ralph Bracamonte. “Like running the sweeper over the floor once a week. She didn’t want to help out.”
The Agreement Goes Bad
Stretton furnished PEOPLE with a mountain of paperwork, including a civil complaint that the Bracamontes filed against last month. The documents include a letter that the Bracamontes sent on June 4, complaining about Stretton’s performance.
“I have been very disappointed in your services,” Marcella Bracamonte wrote Stretton. “You act like you are a visitor in my home. You are not. You are hired help. If your behavior persists, I will have no choice but to ask you to leave.” According to the Bracamontes, they asked Stretton to leave on June 6.
But Stretton insists that she was never fired from the Bracamontes home. “I had quit on 6/4/2014, giving notice that I would be out no later than 7/6/2014,” she told PEOPLE in an email. Stretton also complains that the entire arrangement was unfair. “Not only did I not get paid, but I was expected to supply my own necessary materials without reimbursement. Things like gas and wear and tear on my car were not reimbursed.”
When Will She Leave?
Ultimately, Diane Stretton and Marcella Bracamonte both want the same thing: for Stretton to leave quietly so that everyone can move on. It’s unclear when that will happen.
In an email from Stretton to the Bracamontes’ attorney, Marc Cohen, the nanny outlined a plan – but it hasn’t come to fruition.
“I can take a little each day in the early morning before it gets hot,” Stretton wrote on June 28. “But that depends on the circus not continuing.”
• Reporting by REAGAN ALEXANDER
