Back last July I posted this piece about Kristin Ruggiero. At the time she had been charged with 12 felonies for lying to the police and prosecutors all for the purpose of setting up her husband Jeffrey Ruggiero. Her plan worked at first; he was convicted of criminal threatening, was briefly jailed, lost his job and his house, but was later exonerated when Kristin tried to gild the lily. When she added some claims of cell phone harrassment, the whole scam fell to pieces. Police figured out that she had sent the text messages herself. That led to her ex-husband’s exoneration.
Last year though, Kristin pronounced herself innocent of the charges against her and claimed she looked forward to proving the fact at trial.
Well, she’s had her chance to do that, but it didn’t go quite as she’d hoped as this article shows (Manchester Union Leader, 5/7/10). The jury convicted her of all 12 felony counts, each of which carries a 3 1/2 – 7 year sentence. Add to that the fact that the judge in the case is none too impressed with her and it looks like she’ll be doing some hard time soon. Actually, she’s doing some now. The judge refused bail for her prior to sentencing. Here are the judge’s thoughts on the case.
Judge Kenneth McHugh said it was necessary to keep Ruggiero in jail after the jury found that the 34-year-old mother used the criminal justice system as a means to falsely imprison her ex-husband, Jeffrey, and ruin his career.
“The jury’s verdict has confirmed my belief after hearing 8 days of this case that the defendant is a pathological liar,” McHugh said. “She will do and say anything in order to distort facts so as to avoid responsibility for her actions.”
I’d remind judge McHugh that she doesn’t just do it to avoid her own responsibility, but to destroy others, like her ex-husband. Her conviction,
came exactly two years after Kristin Ruggiero had played a key witness in the prosecution of her ex-husband, who was later exonerated by prosecutors when an East Kingston police investigation concluded that Jeffrey Ruggiero was convicted of crimes he did not commit.
Ruggiero, a U.S. Coast Guard chief petty officer, nearly lost his career and was jailed for three and a half weeks following an April 30, 2008, criminal threatening case based on Kristin Ruggiero’s complaints.
From the judge’s remarks, I’d conclude that Kristin will be spending a good many years behind bars. Sentencing is set for July 1st.
Why’d she do it? This article gives us a good idea (Manchester Union Leader, 5/6/10).
Kristin Ruggiero couldn’t stand that her ex-husband had moved on in early 2008.
He simply wanted a divorce and to get on with his career in the U.S. Coast Guard, according to prosecutors.
But Ruggiero sought revenge for being spurned by her ex-husband, Jeffrey, and tried to set him up — days after she helped get him convicted of other crimes he didn’t commit, prosecutors said during closing arguments of her falsifying physical evidence trial.
“She did out of vindictiveness. She did it out of spite,” Assistant County Attorney Jerome Blanchard said. “She taunted him. She tortured him. She tried to ruin his career. Why? Because that’s how she is.”
Would anyone be surprised to learn that part of that vindictiveness included false claims of domestic violence and stalking? Or that she used those false claims to get a leg up in her divorce case? Sure enough, that’s what she did.
Last year, following my piece on Kristin Ruggiero, I received some indignant emails claiming that she was innocent and the victim of a frame-up. I wonder if I’ll hear from the same folks now.