Medical Exam Points to Minnesota Jail Corruption

A recent medical exam revealed that Sandra Grazzini-Rucki has several broken bones and torn ligaments, and much of the damage was either ignored or caused by the Minnesota jail system the last time she was incarcerated.

As I previously noted, Grazzini-Rucki is currently being housed in Pinellas County Jail in Florida awaiting extradition back to Minnesota to finish a convoluted sentence imposed inexplicably by Dakota County Minnesota Judge Karen Asphaug.

She recently had a medical check to prepare her for transport for her extradition and that medical check determined that she had: multiple broken toes on one foot, and one on the other, a broken nose, iron deficiency, lower back problems, and a torn rotator cuff.

Much of this damage was caused on her last transport from Florida to Minnesota and the broken nose was caused when a fellow inmate attacked her while in prison in Minnesota.

The reason the transport was so brutal was because Dakota County lied to the US Marshals and made her appear to be a violent and assaultive felon when she was being charged with a low level felony.

In September 2015, she was indicted under seal for parental deprivation.

Because it was under seal she- nor anyone outside a small circle- was supposed to know about the indictment.

Despite that, Brandon Stahl of the Minneapolis Star Tribune was leaked her sealed indictment so that he could splash it on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Stahl has also received another sealed warrant, this one for the home of the Dahlen’s on the day the two Rucki girls were found.

He’s never explained why someone in law enforcement was willing to commit multiple crimes themselves to give him information illegally, but there’s no doubt he is pro-police in this case, never questioning anything they’ve done throughout.

While she was indicted for parental deprivation, Dakota County reached out to the US Marshals and told them she was a fugitive, an assaultive felon who was charged with gun running, kidnapping and child trafficking.

As a result, in October 2015, she was visited after midnight by members of the US Marshals Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT) at a timeshare she was staying following a flight as a flight attendant.

Because of the seriousness of the charges, she was housed in maximum security where her cell mate was accused murderer Elizabeth Rios in Florida while awaiting extradition.

After staying there several weeks, she was transported backto Minnesota, where the prison transport was told she was extremely dangerous so she had her hands and feet shackled, handcuffed, and put into a cage away from everyone where she was made to sit while her feet and hands were shackled together.

Her bus made almost ten stops and on one stop she was chained to the wall in a cell for several days.

She was beaten and sexual assaulted on the transport and when she arrived back in Minnesota claimed a glitch was responsible for them claiming she was charged with child trafficking, kidnapping and gun running and reduced the charges to parental deprivation.

Grazzini-Rucki spent time in Ramsey and Dakota County Jail.

Asphaug gave her $500,000, claiming she was a flight risk, even though her warrant was clearly marked sealed.

In prison she received no care for any of her injuries and the prison even sent in a fellow prisoner to rough her up.

One of the nights she was being housed, Grazzini-Rucki said she received a new cell mate. Shortly after dinner, she said she became groggy and passed out.

The next thing she remembered she woke up in a pool of blood in her cell.

While the hospital staff stopped the bleeding, her nose was never reset and when she arrived back in her cell the cell mate was gone.

Jail officials never conducted an investigation into what happened and told her she must have fallen out of her bunk.

Sarah Fitzgerald, public affairs officer for the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said she was not housed in the prison system for her entire stay. 

That means Grazzini-Rucki was housed in the county jail system the entire time she was incarcerated; the jail system is far more restrictive and given that her crime was a low level felony there was no apparent reason for her to stay in the jail system. 

Grazzini-Rucki faces another transport from Florida to Minnesota shortly.

Grazzini-Rucki was convicted in the fall 2016 of deprivation of parental rights for hiding two of her daughters from her abusive ex-husband- her ex-husband David Rucki has been involved in a bar fight, a road rage incident, incidents of stalking, once stuck a gun to his son Nico’s head, and chased after his daughter Samantha on her thirteenth birthday.

(A full dossier of David Rucki’s violence can be found here)

The conviction came only after Asphaug denied almost all evidence of David Rucki's violence and abuse. 

Check out this podcast where both these incidents and others are discussed.