Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, A Pauper Who Should Pay Child Support

          (Judge Lorie Gildea, who thinks paupers should pay multi-millionaires child support)

The Minnesota Supreme Court, led by Judge Lorie Gildea, has to twist itself into pretzels to carry David Rucki's water. Their latest order shows that.

Order - PFR - Deny (4) by mikekvolpe on Scribd

Even as Judge Gildea refused to review the previous child support orders which ordered SGR, homeless and jobless, to pay child support to David Rucki, the multi-millionaire owner of several homes. she also granted Ms. Grazzini-Rucki pauper status.

Judge Gildea has reviewed more than a dozen of SGR's motions- both civil and criminal- and voted against her every time. This, I am sure, is only because every time SGR had the poorer argument.

Judge Jill Flaskamps Halbrooks, of the Minnesota Appeals Court,  has also reviewed more than a dozen appeals from SGR, both civil and criminal, and ruled against her every time as well.

As I have previously shown, even as she was in jail, SGR was ordered by Magistrate Maria Pastoor in May 2018 to start paying $975 per month in a hearing where SGR wasn't in attendance.

May 3 Hearing by mikekvolpe on Scribd

That was later reduced by Judge Jan Davidson to $215 per month but all arrears were kept in place so SGR is well more than $10,000 behind.

Judge Jan Davidson issued her ruling even though the transcript from the hearing shows she never provided Sandra Grazzini-Rcuki an opportunity to present her case.

TranscriptAugust2018 (1) by mikekvolpe on Scribd

Despite this blatant violation of SGR's due process, the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Minnesota Supreme Court led by Judge Gildea found that nothing was amiss.

They made these rulings despite acknowledging that SGR was jobless, her monthly expenses unknown, and no one knew exactly how much David Rucki made because he was allowed to refuse to submit his income documents.

A photo of the interior of his home is below.

Things may be even more nefarious than this.

It appears that on November 17, 2015, Lisa Elliott and Judge Phil Kanning teamed up to legally steal approximately $500,000 from Sandra Grazzini-Rucki by Elliott helping herself to a trust meant for SGR, a trust which was set up by SGR's father for his children and not Elliott or her client, David Rucki.

Lisa Elliott has represented David Rucki since shortly after his divorce got started. While she told 20/20 the divorce was a "guerilla divorce" the "guerrilla part only started as soon as she appeared.

She declined to respond to an email for comment.

DruckiSrucki by mikekvolpe on Scribd

As with Magistrate Pastoor, Judge Kanning held the hearing without the presence of SGR- are you sensing a pattern here.

"So, your order indicated that our motion to distribute the funds that were held in my trust account from GFP to satisfy Ms. Grazzini-Rucki's debts and the parties joint debts was granted subject to a stay."

That stay, as Elliott stated, was conditioned, "for ten days, which would give Ms. Grazzini-Rucki time to comply with your order."

Ms. Elliott claimed the conditions weren't met so, "so, on September 11th, we sent out notice to everybody, that we intended to start paying off everybody."

Here are some of the people paid off, "Then the joint marital debts that have been satisfied are a Wells Fargo credit card, 2009 federal taxes, Bracket's golf membership, Fred and Vicky Rucki (David Rucki's parents), and also Ms. Grazzini-Rucki's attorneys fees owed to my office."

In other words, this trust set up by Ms. Grazzini-Rucki's parents was used to pay David Rucki's parents and his attorney, among others.

But Ms. Grazzini-Rucki's attorney, Michelle MacDonald, said it was not accurate that conditions were not satisfied, "Your order was stayed and Ms. Grazzini-Rucki did in fact comply with number one of your order," MacDonald stated, "To my surprise Ms. Elliott, who was entrusted with $500,000, just proceeded to distribute those funds (including to herself)."

She continued, "Your honor, and it makes this hearing completely moot because this hearing was scheduled so that Ms. Grazzini-Rucki  could be here- under the guise of your giving her an opportunity to present her non-marital claim to those funds."

Incidentally, how is it that Ms. Grazzini-Rucki had $500,000 in trust and not know it; that is because her siblings never told her and let her suffer for years homeless without mentioning that there was $500,000 available to her; SGR's parents had tens of millions of dollars and she should not be in this position today.

"Well, I respectfully disagree, I don't think your client did comply," said the judge, Phil Kanning.

Kanning no longer has a functioning email but the four media representatives- Beau Berentson, Kyle Christopherson, Lissa Finne, and Alyssa Siems Roberson- for the Minnesota courts did receive an email which they did not respond to.

How did Ms. Elliott get access to a trust from SGR's dad, this is Dakota County, that's how.

"Ms. Elliott connected with David Rucki's parents and did in fact attach a significant portion of those funds and then proceeded to move them here." MacDonald stated.

The transcripts also show that the trust was started in Hennepin County but Dakota County did not care and simply moved it to their county for Lisa Elliott to then legally raid, "I think I explained this to the court, is that Ms. Grazzini-Rucki never got a judgment in the Hennepin County case, it was bypassed, and all of the proceeds were simply scheduled to paid to Ms. Elliott." Michelle MacDonald stated.

Ms. Elliott then noted, "I want to clarify for the record that the money was never made payable to me. It was never deposited into my account. It was deposited directly into the trust account," a distinction without a difference since she helped herself to the money.

Finally, I expect that Ms. Elliott will soon file a motion to hold Ms. Grazzini-Rucki in contempt of court for failure to pay child support. The intention is to have her thrown in jail because as David Rucki told a trusted associated, "She (SGR) will be in jail by fall," it is fall.

Gearin Makes Her Move

                                                     (Judge Kathleen Gearin)

Judge Kathleen Gearin finally made a decision on a motion filed by Sandra Grazzini-Rucki.

On Monday March 4, 2019, Judge Gearin issued her decision.

Here is part of the court docket,

03/04/2019

Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Order

Remarkably, the decision comes nearly three weeks after a hearing was held; that hearing was held on February 12, 2019. It was held without Sandra Grazzini-Rucki so it is not clear why the decision took so long.

Coincidentally or not, the decision comes immediately after I wrote an article wondering why a decision had not been made. I wrote that article on Saturday March 2, 2019. 

Here is part of that article.

“It appears the judges handling Sandra Grazzini-Rucki’s child support are not entirely sure what to do. As I recently reported, the judge assigned to the case, Judge Phillip Kanning, is no longer assigned. Meanwhile, a motion first filed in October continues to languish three weeks after a hearing to argue it was held.“That motion awaits a decision from another judge, Kathleen Gearin.”

I asked Gearin on Tuesday if this was merely a coincidence or if I was her puppet master, but she did not respond to my email.

I also asked the four members of the Minnesota Judiciary public affairs team- Lissa Finne, Kyle Christopherson, Alyssa Siems-Roberson, and Beau Berentson- but they also did not respond.

I also asked Jeff Shorba, the Minnesota Court Administrator, but he also did not respond.

Background

In October, 2016, Magistrate Maria Pastoor ordered Sandra Grazzini-Rucki to pay $975 per month in child support, even though she had recently been convicted of six felonies and hadn’t worked since 2015. Here is part of what I wrote then. (a magistrate is a junior judge)

“Despite being incarcerated, a convicted felon, and on public assistance Sandra Grazzini-Rucki has been ordered to pay nearly one thousand dollars a month in child support.
“The order handed down by Dakota County Minnesota Judge Maria Pastoor on October 13, 2016, calls for Grazzini-Rucki to pay $975 per month.
“Judge Pastoor issued the order even though Grazzini-Rucki is currently incarcerated in the Dakota County jail serving her sentence which began on September 21, 2016, for her role in hiding her two daughters for approximately two and a half years.”

That order was stayed while Grazzini-Rucki finished her sentence.

The court could not wait that long; on May 7^th, 2018, Pastoor issued an order reinstating the $975 per month in child support.

Grazzini-Rucki had only days before been released and was still on probation.

This was appealed and Pastoor quietly was removed replaced by another magistrate, Jan Davidson.

Davidson held another hearing; she, without requiring either party to provide income documents, ruled that David Rucki made $10,000 per month and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki made $1,429 per month.

“The obligor (Grazzini-Rucki) is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed,” Davidson wrote.

When phantom income is determined by a judge, this is referred to as imputing income.

Indeed, she has six felonies on her record and is unlikely to find work anywhere, so voluntary is a matter of perspective.

Davidson ruled that Grazzini-Rucki should pay $215 per month.

Interestingly, Davidson also noted that David Rucki receives public assistance despite her determination he makes $10,000 per month; she did not address that clear fraud in her ruling.

When, in September, the Minnesota Department of Health, moved to suspend Grazzini-Rucki’s driver’s license for non-payment, she appealed that.

She also filed a motion to stay, also in October 2018.

The Minnesota court did nothing even though the license was to be suspended at the end of October.

Indeed, the court ignored all requests until the end of January, when a hearing for February 12, 2019, was scheduled.

This may be because the assigned judge at the time, Phillip Kanning, was out of country for three months.

Kanning is a retired judge as is Gearin.

Davidson could not hear the case I believe because the suspension of the license made it above her pay grade.

Everyone believed the February 12, 2019, hearing was for the license issue, but this did not happen.

Instead, Gearin, in her March 4 order, ruled on the motion to stay.

“Petitioner’s Motion for a Stay of Proceedings is denied.” Gearin said in her March 4 order.

This should have been an easy to order to write since Grazzini-Rucki did not even attend the hearing and a motion to stay is relatively easy, but it took nearly three weeks.

The motion for the license has never been addressed and her license was indeed suspended at the end of October 2018.

It’s likely David Rucki paid his attorney, Lisa Elliott, more to attend the hearing on February 12, 2019, than he would receive for the month.

Besides that, he is a multi-millionaire, who received 100% of the estate, including four homes, nine classic cars, and 100% of their trucking business in the divorce.
Remarkably, when the divorce first started- and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki had custody in 2011- David Rucki was ordered to pay $10,000 per month in child support and alimony (he never actually paid it). This means, the first judge determined David Rucki to make far more than the $10,000 per month Davidson determined him to make. 

Still, not only is he chasing after his ex-wife for $215 per month, but he has the support of his county; the Dakota County Prosecutor’s office has filed briefs in this case on his behalf.

Gearin’s order is below.

Gearin by on Scribd

The Rucki Judges Without A Clue

                                                  (Retired Judge Kathleen Gearin)

It appears the judges handling Sandra Grazzini-Rucki’s child support are not entirely sure what to do.

As I recently reported, the judge assigned to the case, Judge Phillip Kanning, is no longer assigned.

Meanwhile, a motion first filed in October continues to languish three weeks after a hearing to argue it was held.

That motion awaits a decision from another judge, Kathleen Gearin.

Both Gearin and Kanning are retired judges.

Furthermore, Gearin and Kanning, I have recently discovered, are wrapped up in another Rucki related court issue.

This involves a restraining order filed by David Rucki against Dede Evavold, for things she put on the blog, Red Herring Alert.

Gearin wound up holding Evavold in jail for four days while all this unfolded saying in court, "I'm just afraid other reporters will report on this."

Presumably, she was referring to me as I had been writing about it.

Evavold helped hide Grazzini-Rucki’s daughters from 2013-2015 and was convicted in relation to that.

As I described here, the conviction only occurred after most evidence that David Rucki was abusive was excluded.

Here is how Evavold recently described the timeline of events. Notice how involved Judges Kanning and Gearin are in this. 

07/31/2017  Served with a Temporary Restraining Order (Signed by Judge Asphaug who presided over our criminal trials).
08/18/2017 I filed a motion to vacate the false Temporary Restraining Order

Judge Kanning

09/29/2017   Hearing Motion to Vacate the Temporary Restraining Order (At this hearing, Judge Kanning rescheduled the motion hearing to 12/13.2017 to allow time for opposing counsel to prepare.
12-13-2017  Motion to Vacate Hearing Judge Kanning continued the hearing per Attorney Lisa Elliott’s request to allow more time to complete collection of evidence.

Judge Gearin

03/01/2018  Emergency Motion Hearing to remove blog posts. Unconstitutional purge conditions were met and more posts to remove were added by Attorney Lisa Elliott. Conditions again were met however, Lisa Elliott filed an Affidavit of Noncompliance and Request for Arrest Warrant on 03/09/2018which was signed by retired Judge Kathleen Gearin on 03/14/2018.

I filed an Affidavit of Compliance on  03/17/2018 and was arrested on 03/18/2018. I was brought to Stearns County Jail and transported to Dakota County Jail on 03/19/2018. I was transported to Ramsey County Correctional Facility at 5:00 PM and transported back to Dakota County on 3/20/2018 for a hearing with Judge Christopher Lehmann. He stated that I would have to wait to be heard in front of Judge Gearin on 03/21/2018. I was transported back to Ramsey County after spending the day in a holding cell. On 03/22/2018 hearing took place with Judge Gearin. Judicial order included immediate release from custody, constructive contempt of court sentence stayed until March 26th, at 4:30 p.m. in order to allow continued removal of posts. If items are not removed by 4:30 p.m. on March 26th, I was required to turn myself in to the Dakota County Correctional Facility for women on March 27th, at 9:00 a.m. to serve the remaining 26 days. (Some of the images and articles were hot linked from the Red Herring Alert site to other sites and data remained on the web for a short time before they were purged from the servers. I had no control over the cached data.)

05/16/2018  Motion Hearing to Vacate TRO. (Almost a year after the restraining order was issued.)

This means two retired judges are intimately involved in two cases related the fiasco surrounding this family with no explanation for why two retired judges need to be involved or why the things they are doing are so bizarre.

Meanwhile, Judge Gearin held a hearing on February 12, 2019.

She held a hearing because Kanning, who was assigned to the case, was out of country on vacation at the time it was held.

But she has still not ruled.

As of now, it says, “Taken Under Advisement” on February 12, 2019.

There is a further entry, “Correspondence Index # 934” for February 26, 2019, but no decision has been made. See full docket below.

ruckidocket2 by on Scribd

This means a motion first filed in October has yet to be ruled on in March.

Furthermore, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki did not attend the hearing so since it was her motion, she should have lost by default.

Grazzini-Rucki was asking for the county to reinstate her license; if she didn’t show, the only obvious order is to deny the motion.

That it is taking this long to issue an order is peculiar, even more so, now that I have found out that Gearin is known for delegating orders to others.

As I wrote here, Gearin delegated another order, “Per the instructions of Judge Kathleen Gearin, as she is involved in an unrelated hearing and unable to draft an order.” Reads a letter written by Jean Baldwin, the Operations Manager for the 1^st Judicial District.

Baldwin was writing this letter in lieu of an order denying Grazzini-Rucki’s request to postpone the previously noted hearing.

I have sent emails to Gearin and Kanning but received no response.

I also sent emails to four public affairs officers for the Minnesota courts- Beau Berentson, Alyssa Siems-Roberson, Lissa Finne, and Kyle Christopherson- but also received no response.

I also sent an email to Baldwin and to Heidi Carstensen, the Court Administrator for the 1^st Judicial District, that is the district where these Rucki cases have been decided.

They also did not respond.

Finally, I sent an email to Jeff Shorba, the Court Administrator for the  Minnesota Court System, but he also did not respond.

I talked more about the Rucki case on this podcast; I come in about forty-five minutes in. 

For a fuller report on it, check out the podcast below. I come in about an hour in.

Check Me Out on Action Radio Talking Attkisson Lawsuit Vs USDOJ et al and Update on the Rucki case

 My segment starts about forty-seven minutes in.

Find more information on Sharyl Attkisson's case with the USDOJ, find articles here, here, and here.

I also updated on the Rucki case, find an update here.

I originally was on Action Radio about the Rucki case on February 11, 2019. That show is below. The Rucki case is in the second hour.

No Explanation from David Rucki and His Band of Judicial Misfits

                                                          (Judge Phillip Kanning)

Judges continue to make curious decisions with little or no explanation in the Rucki case.

Judge Phillip Kanning Mysteriously Disappears

The most recent update is that Judge Phillip Kanning is no longer assigned to the case.

This, on its own, is not news, but the circumstances leading up to and including his departure raise numerous red flags.

Kanning was assigned to the case even though he is a retired judge.

Sandra Grazzini-Rucki filed a motion to stop her license from being taken for back due child support in October 2018.

Kanning and the court sat on it until late January when a hearing was suddenly called for February 12, 2019.

But Kanning, though he was assigned, would not preside over the hearing, that’s because he was out of country on vacation.

Heidi Carstensen is the Court Administrator for the 1^st Judicial District in Minnesota, where the David Rucki Vs. Sandra Grazzini-Rucki divorce has played out; she told me as much days before the hearing.

The hearing would instead be presided over by Judge Kathleen Gearin, also a retired judge.

Some time after the hearing, Kanning’s name was removed as the assigned judge, and a clerk at the 1^st Judicial District confirmed he is no longer assigned but had no more information.

I also left a voicemail for Jean Baldwin, the Operations Manager for the 1^st Judicial District Court, but she did not respond to my voicemail.

I sent separate emails to Baldwin and Carstensen, which were also left unreturned.

It’s not clear how or why his name was removed if he was out of the country.

Judge Kathleen Gearin Can’t be Bothered to Issue an Order

Meanwhile, the court hearing on February 12, 2019, turned into chaos.

Sandra Grazzini-Rucki filed several requests to have the hearing be postponed.

The judge never actually officially ruled on that request; worse yet, the court may have backdated a letter to cover it all up.

According to the court record, on February 07, 2019, there is an entry for “Request for Continuance needing approval.”

Ruck i Docket by on Scribd

But no order has been entered on this request.

Instead, the court sent a letter  Grazzini-Rucki dated February 8, 2019, but this date is dubious.

That’s because Grazzini-Rucki did not receive it until approximately a week after the hearing.

The letter is dubious in other ways; it wasn’t written by Gearin but by Baldwin on Gearin’s behalf.

The letter notes, “Per the instructions of Judge Kathleen Gearin, as she is involved in an unrelated hearing and unable to draft an order.”

Think about that, she is supposed to be retired; are they really saying the retired judge has such a busy schedule that she can’t “draft an order?”

I posed that question and others to Baldwin, Carstensen, and Gearin.

Also on this email were the four press people for the Minneosta Courts- Lissa Finne, Alyssa Roberson-Riems, Beau Berentsen, and Kyle Christopherson- and Jeff Shorba, the Court Administrator for the Minnesota Court System as a whole.

None responded to the email.

Baldwin’s letter continues, “Your request for a continuance has been denied but Judge Gearin is allowing you to appear via telephone.”

Because Grazzini-Rucki did not receive the letter until after the hearing she missed it.

The hearing appears to be a dud regardless. Lisa Elliott, David Rucki’s attorney, also needed to appear by phone and Judge Gearin would only say, “Taken under advisement,” also entered on February 12, 2019.

There is no update and it’s not clear what Gearin could do.

This case is being appealed with motions being filed in the appeals court simultaneously in which the parties are arguing the same issues.

Any decision by Gearin would be subjugated to the decision in the appeal’s court.

The appeal’s court is involved because rather than ruling on her motion right away, which is customary in district court, they waited months, with Grazzini-Rucki filing in appeal’s court subsequent to that.

Multi-Millionaire David Rucki Gets Benefits In Program for Low Income

Even more remarkably, I’ve recently discovered David Rucki receives aid under Minnesota Cares which is described as, “a health care program for Minnesotans with low incomes.” 

In his divorce, he received an estate which included 100% of a multi-million dollar business, four homes, and nine classic cars.

He is currently involved in at least two other civil actions trying to get money for pain and suffering related to his two oldest daughters running away and being hidden by Doug and Gina Dahlen from April 19, 2013 to November 2015.

He has received money as a result of Gina Dahlen and Doug Dahlen pleading guilty and Sandra Grazzini-Rucki and Dede Evavold being convicted.

Below is an aerial shot of one of his homes.

Minnesota's Wealthiest welfare recipient RUCKI second of 4 homes. 5 beds 2.5 bath. All at Mn taxpayers expense. He claims poverty in court, per court docs. #grazzinirucki #evavold pic.twitter.com/H1N8qyYI8N

— Jane Johnson (@johnsonmedia2) June 8, 2018

Here is a photo inside his long-time occupied home in Lakeville, Minnesota, an affluent suburb of Minneapolis.

I asked several people about this.

I asked members of the Dakota County Prosecutors office, Monica Jensen, the public affairs officer and James Backstrom the prosecutor, and neither responded.

I also asked Elliott, who also did not respond.

I asked members of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which administers the program.

I asked Katie Bauer, the communication’s director for MDHS. I asked Shaneen Moore, the director of the Child Support Division in Children and Family Services for the Minnesota Department of Human Services. 

I also asked Julie Erickson, a supervisor of the Child Support Division  in Minnesota.  None of these folks responded either.

Rucki is simultaneously chasing after his ex-wife for back due child support.

In the last child support order, the judge, Jan Davidson, estimated that David Rucki makes $10,000 per month; she only estimated because she issued an order without forcing David Rucki to submit income documents. [

Grazzini Rucki Fof Cs Order... by on Scribd

"The obligee (David Rucki) applied for public assistance and currently receives medical assistance." Davidson said in the order.


This would mean that he is simultaneously defrauding MDHS, while using the assistance to support his child support argument.

I also left a message with the MDHS media department.

I received a call back from Tammy, from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, who said she worked with Minnesota Care.

She could not help me, she said, due to privacy issues but said I could file a fraud complaint with the MDHS, which I did.

More information on filing a fraud complaint with MDHS can be found here.

That David Rucki is committing fraud is self-evident- find more information here- whether or not anyone in MDHS will take it seriously is another matter.