(Judge Michael Mayer)
After being found in November 2015, the two Rucki girls told
the court they preferred foster care over living with their father, David
Rucki.
“The girls feel it is in their best interest for Dakota
County to stay involved in this case, to remain in local foster care. They
promise not to run from foster care.” Said Tanya Derby, a Dakota County
Assistant Public Defender who attended a hearing on November 30, 2015.
The hearing was presided by Judge Michael Mayer of the 1st
Judicial District in Minnesota.
Mayer, along with the four representatives of the Minnesota
Judicial District’s press team- Beau Berentson, Kyle Christopherson, Alyssa
Roberson-Riems, and Lissa Finne- all did not respond to an email for further
explanation.
Indeed, several times Mayer and others who participated in
this hearing made mention that the girls were threatening to run again if they
were placed with their father.
“The agency’s primary concern is the safety and well being
of the concern that there is a flight risk or a run risk,” said Jennifer
Jackson, an Assistant Attorney for Dakota County.
“But the bottom line is, I’m concerned for the kids. I’m
very concerned about them running.” Said Judge Mayer.
“The girls have indicated to me that they will run, and I
have indicated to them that I can’t stop that from happening,” Judge Mayer says
at another point, recalling a conversation he had with the girls in chambers.
"I can't make them not run," Judge Mayer said at another point.
"It's true that the girls have said they will run if returned to their father's care," said Lisa Elliott, David Rucki's attorney at another point in the hearing.
The girls repeated insistence that they would run squares
with what they told the police when they were first found, “Samantha
and Gianna came down, and immediately told us that they would not go back to
their father. We told them that our first concern was their safety.
I did ask them about the last time that they had heard from their mother, and
they told me that they would not say anything without a lawyer.” Thepolice report stated when the girls were first found.
The two Rucki girls, Gianna and Samantha, ran on April 19.
2013, after 1st District Judge David Knutson forced them to live
with their father, despite their insistence they were afraid of him and that he
is violent.
The evidence of David Rucki’s violence is overwhelming: bar
fights, road rage incident, an incident when he stuck a gun to his son’s head,
repeated violations of protective orders, threatening his in-laws, and his
neighbors.
Judge Mayer did not seem to have any appetite to figure out
why they insisted they would run; instead, he forced them into reunification
therapy with Rebecca Bailey.
Bailey reunifies, if that is what you call it, children who
she and the courts deemed alienated from a parent.
In reality, she threatens children, demeans them, and tells
them they can’t leave her camp until they admit the so-called alienating parent
is putting thoughts in their head and the alienated parent really loves them.
Here’s one of the stories I told.
Jaime’s oldest daughter, then 12, came home
from a visit to their father in February 2014 with a shocking accusation; her
father had allegedly molested her.
Days later, she took her daughter to the
police who took her statement but when the Santa Clara County District
Attorney’s Office refused to prosecute, the alleged molestation became a family
court matter.
Though they’d been divorced since 2006, with
Jamie receiving physical custody, her ex-husband, now facing allegations of
child molestation, first accused his ex-wife of parental alienation in
response.
A laundry list of court professionals was
assigned to the case, and in April 2016 Dr. Rebecca Bailey was assigned as the
reunification therapist.
“When I asked her if my daughter told her of
abuse as a mandated reporter would you report it, she said ‘no’”. Gay remembers
Bailey’s position on allegations of abuse. “Then, she immediately asked if I
was recording it.”
Dr. Bailey quoted an initial $45,000 for the
reunification program but Jaime Gay doesn’t know how much it costed because her
ex-husband paid all the bills.
Gay was initially not allowed to see any of
her three children for ninety days after Bailey was put on the case and she has
had sporadic contact with her children since.
