Hours after a warrant was issued for her arrest, a Lake- ville mother convicted of hiding her teens as part of a custody battle turned herself in after allegedly violating probation.

Sandra Grazzini-Rucki surrendered to authorities shortly after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday in the lobby of the Washington County jail in Stillwater, according to the jail's log and her attorney.

The warrant listed an address in Stillwater as Grazzini-Rucki's last known residence. However, one of her attorneys, Michelle MacDonald, said her client is homeless.

The warrant out of Dakota County said Grazzini-Rucki, 51, has violated terms of her probation by not maintaining contact with probation officials and failing to notify them in a timely manner of any change of address, employment and telephone number. Therefore, the warrant continued, the Sheriff's Office is under orders to arrest Grazzini-Rucki and bring her to court.

Grazzini-Rucki had sought unsuccessfully to serve as much as eight months in prison in lieu of probation. But District Judge Karen Asphaug sentenced her instead to six years of probation and annual stints of 15 days in jail until 2022, to be served on the anniversary that her daughters were found.

Stephen Grigsby, who represented Grazzini-Rucki in the criminal case until her sentencing, said this week that it's logical that she would violate the terms of her probation, given her wish to go to prison instead.

County Attorney James Backstrom cautioned that it's up to a judge to decide that.

The sisters, Samantha and Gianna, ran away in April 2013 in the midst of a tumultuous divorce between Grazzini-Rucki and David Rucki. Their mother and her friend, Dede Evavold, drove them to a horse ranch near Herman, Minn. Grazzini-Rucki claimed that the family court system failed her children.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482