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. 

The Rucki Saga Continues

                                                        (Sandra Grazzini-Rucki)
David Rucki is planning on violating another court order, but it is his ex-wife who will be in the proverbial hot seat.

David Rucki has been required to provide detailed financial documents in his child support hearing, but I have learned that he will refuse, arguing that he’s concerned that tax documents will be leaked if he provides them in court.

Though David Rucki received 100% of their multi-million-dollar estate- including a multi-million dollar business, four homes, and nine classic cars- a Magistrate named Maria Pastoor still found in 2016 that Sandra Grazzini-Rucki owed her ex-husband $975 monthly in child support.

Grazzini-Rucki has been fighting the order ever since.
There are only two Rucki children (they have five total) who are now under eighteen- they had three under 18 at the time of the order- so that has now been reduced to $848 per month. 

On July 19, 2018, Magistrate Judge Jan Davidson held a hearing on a motion by Grazzini-Rucki to reduce her child support.

At that hearing, Davidson noted, “she did not have any information about Mr. Rucki’s current employment and it appears that his wages were coming from his own company.” according to a filing by Grazzini-Rucki. 

David Rucki was then ordered by Davidson to hand over his tax returns and other personal financial documents.

“I will not be turning over my tax returns and/or private financial documents,” David Rucki is planning on saying.

Furthermore, he’s provided his ex-wife with no tax documentation while I’ve learned he most recently claimed to make less than $25,000 yearly, without ever providing proof.

He further states that his income has not changed since 2016, a dubious statement given he’s a multi-millionaire now claiming to make less than $25,000 per year.

It is a laughable figure since he lives in Lakeville, Minnesota, one of the most affluent suburbs in the country.
The assertion is even more laughable given that David Rucki claims to work for TL Rucki Trucking, a company he's owned but recently claimed was moved into his sister's name a couple years ago. 

It’s the latest in a series of moves by the new judge, Jan Davidson, which has continued a pattern of harassment against by Dakota District Court against Grazzini-Rucki.

Davidson has refused to mail to Grazzini-Rucki her order (which required the production of loads of documents) from the previous hearing.

She continues to allow Lisa Elliott to serve Michelle MacDonald, who was Grazzini-Rucki’s attorney but has since been removed from the case. Though MacDonald has not been on the case for approximately six months, Elliott regularly submits copies of her filings to MacDonald.
Meanwhile, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki is still on probation finishing her criminal sentence from approximately two years ago. With six felonies on her record, she has little hope of securing employment to pay the child support; she has been left homeless, moving from home to home, since being forcibly removed from her home in September 2012. 

What is Social Security Title IVD

Remarkably, David Rucki is attempting to collect this child support from his ex-wife using Social Security Title IVD funding.

Social Security Title IVD “was created under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act to help ensure financial support for children throughout the country. The IV-D child support program, federally administered by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), helps parents establish legal paternity and obligations for child support, and to enforce support obligations. IV-D child support programs are operated by every U.S. state, managed either by the state or individual county of the applicant.” According to a statement from the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).

In other words, David Rucki, a multi-millionaire with access to the best lawyers, is using a federal program which sends money to the state to hunt down his ex-wife and chase her for child support.

Remarkably, David Rucki qualifies because the program is not means tested; here’s more from the Minnesota DHS: “In Minnesota, most cases are managed by the county of the applicant and awards are made by the courts in that county (sometimes a second county could get involved if a parent moves). Child support services are available to anyone who applies (emphasis mine). To be clear, the Child Support program does not provide ‘financial benefits’ to anyone. It does provide services to parents who need to establish paternity, establish a child support order or enforce a child support order. These services are intended to ensure children receive financial support from both their parents.”

Because they are not means tested, Anne Stevenson, writing in Huffington Post noted of Title IVD funding: “These HHS policies created a new breed of dangerous Welfare Kings through HHS Office of Child Support Enforcement when it began subsidizing the homes and legal battles of the unfit, unwilling, and violent fathers.”

She quoted Larry Holland and Jason Bottomsly who said: “Despite the original intent of the IV-D welfare program, it now provides an incentive for the states to use their family courts to produce forcibly absent parents in order to increase the states’ IV-D welfare caseload.”

The Dakota County Operations Manager, Jean Baldwin, did not provide any comment, only saying that all these issues should be argued at the next court hearing, August 7, 2018 at 10AM Central Time.

Emails to Judge Davidson along with Lisa Elliott and Beau Berentson, the public affairs officer for the Minnesota Courts, were left unreturned.