Judge Kenneth McHugh said Ruggiero's attempt to set up her ex-husband and use the legal system as a weapon was unlike any other case he has seen.
"There's a lot of people, usually women, who have been subjected to abuse by their significant others," McHugh said, during Ruggiero's sentencing yesterday. "As a result of her actions, their cases, their safety, their security has been damaged. The web for this is much greater than what has just happened to Mr. Ruggiero."
A jury found that Kristin Ruggiero registered a disposable cell phone under her ex-husband's name and sent herself a dozen threatening and suicidal text messages. She then reported to East Kingston police in May 2008 that her ex-husband had violated bail conditions tied to a criminal threatening case, which police learned was also fabricated by the 34-year-old mother.
RUGGIERO
The couple battled over finances and their 7-year-old daughter.
While Jeffrey Ruggiero was being investigated, his ex-wife called him at all hours and taunted him over the phone, according to court testimony.
"She mocked him. She laughed at him. (She said) 'I took all your money, I took your daughter and now I am going to take your career'," Assistant County Attorney Jerome Blanchard said in court yesterday.
Video: Click below to view some of Judge Kenneth McHugh's comments during sentencing.
He said Ruggiero's folly came because claims in criminal court had to be backed up -- unlike in family court where she made repeated claims about ex-husband's behavior.
"Unfortunately for her, we're not in family court anymore," Blanchard said.
Blanchard argued that Ruggiero continued to try to manipulate the justice system, even after her conviction in May from her jail cell.
In a series of recorded phone calls from the jail played in court, Ruggiero asked her mother to get a letter from a doctor, which would claim that Ruggiero suffered a form of psychosis stemming from addiction to Adderall and alcohol.
"I'm going to pull the mental health card, you know what I mean?" Ruggiero says during the call, which was played in court. "It has to be outpatient in the United States and I can live at home."
But yesterday, Ruggiero sobbed to McHugh. She apologized for comments she made about the judge and his heart bypass surgery during another phone call.
"Dad, guess what? Judge McHugh had a quadruple bypass!" Ruggiero said during the phone call, only a small portion of which was played in court.
McHugh told prosecutors to skip over that call, saying it wasn't necessary for the sentencing hearing.
McHugh said it's likely that Ruggiero cannot be rehabilitated. He told Ruggiero he found her apology yesterday disingenuous.
Defense lawyer Chuck Keefe argued that his client was a caring mother whose judgment may have been affected because she suffered from drug and alcohol dependency.
"I want to say here what the state offers is a sentence of extermination," Keefe said, while proposing a 12-month jail sentence for Ruggiero.
Before her arrest in September 2008, Ruggiero nearly had the criminal justice and family court system fooled, according to prosecutors. A district court judge convicted Jeffrey Ruggiero of misdemeanor criminal threatening and related charges, but refused to jail him before sentencing.
That allowed Jeffrey Ruggiero to remain free on bail and return to his job as a petty officer in the U.S. Coast Guard.
It enraged Kristin Ruggiero so much that she came up with the scheme about receiving a series of threatening and suicidal text messages. Ruggiero was sentenced on 12 counts of falsifying physical evidence, which each carry a potential 3 1/2 to 7-year prison term.
The case that McHugh repeatedly described as "bizarre" yesterday may not be over.
Prosecutors revealed during Ruggiero's sentencing hearing that a new criminal investigation related to her is under way.
Ruggiero was also ordered to pay $19,000 in restitution to the East Kingston police department, which conducted the investigation.
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