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HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota mother has been found guilty of concealing her two daughters from their dad for more than two years.
A jury in Dakota County convicted Sandra Grazzini-Rucki on Thursday on six counts of deprivation of custodial rights.
Prosecutors say the 50-year-old Grazzini-Rucki, of Elko, drove the then-13- and 14-year-old girls almost 200 miles from Lakeville, where the teens were living, to a ranch near Herman to hide them during a bitter divorce in 2013.
The teens were found in 2015 and have moved back in with their father.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom says Grazzini-Rucki's actions caused significant trauma to her daughters and had an impact on the whole family.
Grazzini-Rucki was free during trial but has since been taken into custody and bail was set at $100,000. She's scheduled to be sentenced in September.
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This story has been corrected to say that Sandra Grazzini-Rucki is "of Elko," rather than "of Lakeville."
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