Couple who hid Lakeville sisters sentenced to probation

Published 8:08 am Thursday, May 4, 2017

HASTINGS — The couple who helped a mother hide her two teenage daughters from their father on a ranch near Herman has been sentenced to probation.

Douglas and Gina Dahlen kept the girls at White Horse Ranch for two and a-half years to hide them during their parents’ bitter divorce. The girls were 13 and 14 years old when they were taken to the ranch.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press says a Dakota County judge sentenced the Dahlens Tuesday to two years of probation. The girls’ father was granted custody after his daughters were found. Their mother, Sandra Grazzini-Rucki, was sentenced in September to 233 days in jail and six months of probation.

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The Dahlens must also pay $10,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to deprivation of parental rights.