Mom found guilty of hiding Rucki sisters for 2 years
Sandra Grazzini Rucki
HASTINGS, Minn. (KMSP) - A Lakeville, Minn. mother has been convicted of hiding her two daughters from their family for more than two years. A jury found Sandra Grazzini-Rucki guilty of six counts of deprivation of custodial/parent rights on Thursday morning in Dakota County. The trial began a week ago.
Grazzini-Rucki took Gianna and Samantha to a horse farm in western Minnesota on April 23, 2013. The girls were not found by their father until last November. During that time, Grazzini-Rucki said she did not know the girls' whereabouts.
Back in 2013, the Rucki family was the subject of Fox 9 investigation about "parent alienation.” The girls said their father physically and emotionally abused them, but David Rucki accused their mother of turning the girls against him. At the time, the girls told Fox 9 they ran away because they didn't want to be reunited with their father.
Their father has since regained full custody of the girls and has been reunited with them.
Grazzini-Rucki was taken into custody following the jury verdict and bail was set at $100,000 without conditions ($50,000 with conditions). She had previously been released on her own recognizance without bail.
A sentencing date has been set for September 21.