David Rucki On Probation When Reunited with Daughters

 (Judge Michael Mayer, he ordered the Rucki girls to live with their father even after they threatened to run)

When the Rucki girls were forced to live with their father, he, David Rucki, was still finishing up probation from yet another incident.

The two Rucki girls were found in November; they spent a couple weeks in foster care before being sent to Rebecca Bailey for reunification therapy. Then they were forced to live with their father.

At the time, he was reunited with his daughters, David Rucki was still on probation for a 2014 road rage incident. Here is the docket from that incident.

Ruck i Roadrage by on Scribd

Here is the road rage incident. 

"Upon arrival we made contact with Suspect 1: Troy Lee Witt DOB. 10/07/1962 who was actively bleeding from the mouth and lips. Witt said he was involved in a road rage incident with Suspect #2, later identified as David Victor Rucki DOB 02/03/1963. Witt stated Rucki cut him off in traffic and admitted to later passing Rucki’s vehicle and ‘flipping him the bird’ before cutting him off in return. Witt said Rucki followed him into Cub Foods and parked his vehicle behind Witt as he was parked legally in the lot. With said Rucki got out of his vehicle and confronted him by the cart coral, where they both exchanged in a verbal altercation. Witt said Rucki pushed him into the cart coral and then returned to his vehicle. Witt said he then pursued Rucki slamming his driver’s door after he got into his car. Witt said he was ‘pretty sure’ Rucki was completely inside his vehicle when he slammed the door, but he stated he could not be positive. Witt said Rucki then came after him and punched him once, knocking him down to his knees. He said Rucki punched him two or three more times and then walked into Cub Foods.”

That incident occurred in June 2014. He was sentenced in December 2014 and placed on probation for a year. That probation included anger management, noteworthy because on 20/20 Elizabeth Vargas asked him if he had anger issues. He of course denied it, but Vargas failed to ask him about this incident, or the anger management he was required to take. 

David Rucki, I'm told, has a compulsion that he needs to eat after getting into a fight, which would explain why he went shopping after pounding this stranger. 

As I previously showed, after being found, the two Rucki girls, Samantha and Gianna, told several people they would run again if placed with their father. 

"“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 Michael  Mayer said during a November 2015 hearing. 

Mayer still ordered the girls to live with their father; he sent them to reunification therapy first. That therapy was with Rebecca Bailey and I described her in more detail here. 

The road rage incident is one of numerous violent incidents perpetrated by David Rucki. Others include: a bar fight,  threatening to kill his in-law, stalking his ex-wife, choking her, and repeatedly violating protective orders.

Despite this documented history, David Rucki received sole custody and the media painted him as the victim whose daughters were brainwashed and ran away because they were convinced falsely that he was dangerous. 

The judge who ordered David Rucki to get sole custody is David Knutson. 

Rucki Girls Wanted Foster Care Over David Rucki

(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 1^st Judicial District in Minnesota.

Judge Mayer Transcripts (1) by on Scribd

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.” The police report stated when the girls were first found.

The two Rucki girls, Gianna and Samantha, ran on April 19. 2013, after 1^st 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: Rucki-  a bar fight, a road rage incident, incidents of stalking, once sticking a gun to his son Nico’s head, and chasing after his daughter Samantha on her thirteenth birthday

As I discussed here, all these incidents were covered up by the courts and later by the media, particularly 20/20 and their broadcast "Footprints in the Snow" which conveniently left out all these documented incidents of abuse, all while claiming they could find no evidence. 

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.

I discussed Bailey further here.

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.