The Minnesota couple that held two missing Lakeville teens in their home as authorities searched for them were sentenced on Tuesday to a month in jail.
Couple who hid missing Lakeville teens in custody case get 30 days in jail
May 2, 2017 at 10:51PM
Doug and Gina Dahlen each pleaded guilty to one count of deprivation of parental rights for keeping Samantha and Gianna Rucki from their father for nearly two and a half years.
The Dahlens agreed to take the girls into their rural Herman, Minn., home in April 2013, at the request of their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, 51, and her friend Dede Evavold, 53, who wanted to hide them from their father.
The Dahlens knew the sisters had been reported missing, but did not call authorities to let them know they were living in their home.
The search for their whereabouts had gone cold until an April 2015 Star Tribune story provided new information on the case. Police and U.S. marshals found the girls at the Dahlens in November 2015. They were then reunited with their father.
The Dahlens were also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitutions and another $944 to the crime victim reparations board, a dollar for each day the girls were missing.
Juries found both Grazzini-Rucki and Evavold guilty of deprivation of parental rights. Grazzini-Rucki was sentenced to 233 days in jail and six years probation. Evavold was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
BRANDON STAHL
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The returns were filed on behalf of themselves and others, according to federal prosecutors.
