Eviction process gone wrong, any suggestions

[Dmitriy Fomichenko]

I own a rental in High Desert area (Victorville) of Southern California. My tenants did not pay August rent so my property manager served them with the 3-day notice to Pay or Quit. They did not pay so we had to proceed with the eviction. My property manager recommended a paralegal whom she used in the past (she knew this lady for over 10 years).

I paid the paralegal money to prepare the paperwork and file it with the court. She explained to me that Victorville court no longer handles the evictions and we would have to file in Barstow court. She said she has someone there to file the documents and to serve them to the tenants (she is located in Upland).

The paperwork was filed on the 12th of August and according to the paralegal it took the server several attempts to serve. Finally, after server brought along the sheriff, the tenants were served. 

Tenants did not respond so the next step would be to file a default. I paid additional fee to the paralegal to do so and never heard from her since. It has been over a week now. I called the court to check on the status of the case and been told that the default has been filed, however it was returned because they did not include proof of service. 

I have been trying to contact the paralegal daily, at least one phone call and one email each day - no response. I suspect that her person in Barstow dropped the ball but the fact that she never responded to me is outrageous!

I'm hoping that I won't have to start all over from scratch, but how do I find a person who filed the paperwork with the court to get proof of service? Any other suggestions? 

Also, I need to find someone else to take this over, so any recommendation for someone handling eviction in High Desert area (Adelanto, Hesperia, Apple Valley) would be appreciated!