Ruby Frank update: TikTokers crash virtual court hearing before YouTube influencer held in jail
Mother of six appeared alongside business partner Jodi Hildebrandt accused of abusing and starving her children
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YouTube parenting influncer Ruby Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were supposed to appear in court in St George, Utah on Friday afternoon over child abuse charges, but the proceeding was delayed as tech issues plagued the virtual hearing.
Both women were ordered to be held without bail; their bond hearings are slated for 21 September. Ms Franke has reportedly been relocated to the medical unit of the jail, but the reasons for her move are unclear.
Over 1,000 people tuned into the hearing and after a cacophony of bizarre noises and pleas to be quiet, the court shut down public access. It transpired later the Zoom link had been shared on TikTok.
The pair were arrested on 30 August after Ms Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out of a window and pleaded for neighbors to give him food and water, court documents showed.
After a neighbor noticed that duct tape covering the boy’s ankles and wrists, prompting the neighbor to notify law enforcement. In a chilling 911 call, the neighbor can be heard describing the boy: “He is emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry and he’s thirsty.”
Who is Ruby Franke? Everything we know about the family vlogger’s rise to fame before child abuse charges
Chilling 911 call that led to Ruby Franke’s arrest revealed
Ruby Franke virtual court hearing on child abuse charges is derailed by tech issues as over 1,000 people join- Ruby Franke charging documents reveal son’s chilling escape that led to child abuse arrest
Who is Ruby Franke’s estranged daughter?
Shari Franke, 20, is Ruby Franke’s eldest daughter and has been estranged from her for quite some time now.
Following her mother’s arrest, Shari posted to Instagram several statements about the situation. She started off by posting a photo of a police car and an officer, as she wrote: “Finally.”
“Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” she wrote in another post. “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they decided to finally step up. Kids are safe, but there’s a long road ahead.”
Shari also created a document asking followers to share “questionable” or “concerning” information about ConneXions or 8 Passengers.
Video resurfaces of Ruby Franke refusing to take her child lunch to ‘teach her a lesson’
Franke launched her "8 Passengers" YouTube channel in 2015, but it has since been shut down since her arrest.
A clip has resurfaced showing the mom being criticised for her own video explaining to followers that she had refused to take her kindergartner lunch after the child forgot it at home.
She said in the video that she told her daughter’s teacher she would not be bringing her lunch in hopes of teaching her a lesson.
“I know that her teacher is uncomfortable with her being hungry and not having a lunch and it would ease her discomfort if I came to the school with a lunch,” Franke said.
“But I responded and just said Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning and she actually told me she did pack a lunch, so the natural outcome is she’s just going to need to be hungry. And hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her a lunch because then she’s not going to learn from the natural outcome.”
Sisters of Ruby Franke said they kept ‘quiet’ on the matter ‘`for the sake of her children’
Franke’s sisters Ellie Mecham, Julie Deru, and Bonnie Hoellein released a statement saying that, for the last three years, they have kept “quiet” on the subject of their siblings “for the sake of her children”.
They went on to say that they tried everything they could to ensure the children were safe.
“For the last three years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe. We wouldn’t feel right about moving forward with regular content without addressing the most recent events.
“Once we do, we will not be commenting on it further,” the statement continued. “Ruby was arrested, which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.”
Why were Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt arrested?
Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt are accused of causing or permitting serious injury to the two hospitalised children aged 10 and 12 in three different ways, according to a news release from the Washington County attorney’s office as reported in The Salt Lake City Tribune.
They are said to have harmed the children through a combination of physical injuries or torture; starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life; and by causing severe emotional harm.
Those three alleged forms of abuse, for each of the two children, amounted to the six aggravated child abuse counts that Ms Franke and Ms Hildebrandt each face.
Each count carries a sentence of 1-15 years in prison, and a fine up to $10,000, according to the release.
ICYMI: Chilling 911 call that led to Ruby Franke’s arrest revealed
A newly released 911 call reveals the chilling details of the incident that led to Youtube influencer Ruby Franke’s arrest, when her 12-year-old child sought food and water from a neighbor.
Ms Franke’s child, who was reportedly also in the care of her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, “climbed out of the window AND ran to a neighbor’s home” on 30 August.
The child reportedly showed up at the neighbor’s home with “duct tape” covering his ankles and wrists as he begged for food and water.
Alarmed, the neighbor called the police.
Read more…
Chilling 911 call that led to Ruby Franke’s arrest revealed
The child reportedly showed up at the neighbor’s home with “duct tape” covering his ankles and wrists as the he begged for food and water
Ruby Franke attorney asks judge to change hearing date citing a ‘longstanding family vacation’
The attorney representing Ruby Franke filed a motion to join co-defendant and business partner Jodi Hildebrant’s request for an expedited detention hearing, KUTV reported citing court documents.
The hearing was previously scheduled for September 21, but Franke’s defence attorney LaMar J. Winward requested for a hearing date of 14 September citing a “longstanding family vacation.”
The first request to move the hearing was filed by Hildebrandt’s attorney Douglas D. Terry on Friday.
In that motion, he wrote Hildebrandt “experienced a life-threatening medical issue,” and said she had been hospitalized for several days.
Both attorneys said they believed the hearing for both women should be heard together.
Ruby Franke’s video blog 8 passengers: was there an outcry?
Yes.
Some critics started an online petition asking child protective services to get involved. The Franke’s oldest daughter, Sherri Franke, cut ties with her parents, she has said in social media posts. The YouTube channel, which was started in 2015, ended after seven years.
Police records from Springville, Utah — where the Franke family lived — show Sherri Franke called police on 18 September 2022 to report her brothers and sisters had been left home alone for days.
Police also spoke with neighbours, but were unable to contact the children.
A report was made to Child and Family Services, according to police.
Ruby Franke threatens to take Christmas away from children in resurfaced video
In a video that has resurfaced since Franke’s arrest, she shared that she and her husband, Kevin, told their two youngest children they wouldn’t be getting any Christmas presents because they were selfish and weren’t responding to punishment.
They share six children -- Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve.
"It’s because they’re so numb, and the more numb your child is, the bigger the outcome they need to wake them up," Franke said in a video she shared on social media.
Neightbors who have accused Franke of withholding food as a punishment for her children, also say they took away Christmas one year.
“I remember that she took away their Christmas one year,” a male neighbor said, “and she would say things like ‘They’re not repenting correctly,’ which is a Mormon term for ‘they’re sinning.’ Just complete insanity.”
Everything we know about YouTube blogger Ruby Franke
Ruby Franke has been known as a YouTuber, a blogger, an influence, and now… a defendant facing child neglect charges.
Franke first made headlines back in 2015 for her controversial parenting advice that she shared on the YouTube channel “8 Passengers,” which featured her husband Kevin Franke and their children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve.
The now-deleted channel was once popular, having accumulated more than two million subscribers before speculation and concern began to mount in 2020 about the family’s daily activities.
Two years later, the Utah-based mother went on to announce that she was joining a new YouTube channel called ConneXions - which has since been deleted - alongside Jodi Nan Hildebrandt. The pair also sparked controversy with their videos, including one in which they made claims about what loving children unconditionally means.
Last week, the mother-of-six was arrested after officials said they discovered a malnourished minor with visible injuries and duct tape on their limbs.
Read more…
Who is Ruby Franke? Everything we know about the family vlogger
Franke was arrested with charges related to child abuse
The end of Ruby Franke’s blog 8 Passengers
Ruby Franke was known for sharing her family’s life on their video blog “8 Passengers.”
She and her husband received criticism over their parenting decisions, including banning their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother.
In one video, Ruby Franke talked about refusing to take lunch to a kindergartener who forgot it at home. Another showed her threatening to cut the head off a young girl’s stuffed toy to punish her for cutting things in the house.
In one video, Franke said she and her husband told their two youngest children that they would not be getting presents from Santa Claus because they had been selfish and weren’t responding to punishment like being kept home from school and cleaning the floorboards.
“It’s because they’re so numb, and the more numb your child is, the bigger the outcome they need to wake them up,” Franke said in a video.
The blog had 2.3 million followers before it was deleted in 2022.