Ruby Franke’s family say she was ‘brainwashed’ as she’s sentenced over child abuse
’Momfluencer’ Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt both face up to 60 years in prison
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Ruby Franke’s family wrote letters to a Utah judge ahead of the former vlogger’s sentencing over child abuse, saying that she was “deeply brainwashed” after meeting her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
“She was delusional. She was so deeply brainwashed we could not recognize her,” they wrote as they pleaded for mercy.
“During her career on YouTube, she often told me that her desire was to spread the message that ‘mothers are important and that mothers have strength in nurturing their children,’” Franke’s brother, Beau Griffiths, said in a written statement.
“I never had any concern for her and her children, and I was impressed with how generous and kind she has always been to my own children.”
“Many of the teachings from the Connexions program were reasonable and good,” his statement continued. “Unfortunately, as I later discovered, that is what made the program so dangerous.”
But the judge decided to give Franke, along with Hildebrandt, four consecutive prison terms for the child abuse charges they pleaded guilty to in December.
In a tearful statement made in court, Franke claimed she had been deceived by a “dark delusion.”
The mother-of-six was once a YouTube sensation, drawing in millions of subscribers to her channel where she offered parenting advice. But her reputation unravelled when she and Hildebrandt were arrested in August 2023 after one of Franke’s sons escaped Hildebrandt’s home.
In a harrowing 911 call, the neighbour said: “I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help.
“And he’s said he had just come from a neighbor’s house and we know there’s been problems at this neighbor’s house.”
The neighbour added: “He is emaciated. He’s got tape around his legs. He’s hungry and he’s thirsty.”
The malnourished boy later said that Hildebrandt put cayenne pepper and honey on their wounds that were caused by being tied with the rope, according to arrest warrants.
Franke and Hildebrandt have 30 days to appeal the judge’s decision.
Now, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will consider their behavior while incarcerated and determine how much of that time each will spend behind bars.
Judge tells Hildebrandt she ‘terrorized’ Ruby Franke's children
Judge John Walton had harsh words for Jodi Hildebrandt at her sentencing hearing, telling her that she “terrorized” Ruby Franke’s children.
“This circumstance is tragic; it’s largely of course of your making. By any measure, your conduct in this case was disastrous for these children. Adults are supposed to protect children. Adults with specialized training in particular are supposed to protect children. You didn’t do that in this case. In this case, you terrorized children and the results have been tragic.”
"Adults are supposed to protect children,” he told her.
“What happened to these children and your philosophy in dealing with them frankly seems detached from reality or any objective standard of decency or even common sense.”
Hildebrandt was given the maximum sentence of up to 60 years for four counts of child abuse.
Ruby Franke’s estranged husband cries in court after calling for harsh prison sentence for YouTube mom ahead of hearing
The estranged husband of disgraced YouTube mom Ruby Franke called for his wife to face lengthy prison time as she is sentenced for child abuse.
Franke is being sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to four counts of child abuse, months after her son was found emaciated and suffering wounds at her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt’s home.
Kevin Franke, who used to run the family YouTube vlogging channel “8Passengers” with his wife, spoke out ahead of her sentencing to say he hopes the judge comes down heavily on her.
“We trust the judge to sentence them both to 1-15 years for each of the four counts, to run consecutively, and then let the Utah State Board of Pardons decide if that should be shortened or other conditions imposed,” according to a statement Mr Franke’s attorney shared with Law&Crime.
Read more:
Ruby Franke’s husband calls for harsh prison sentence for YouTube mom
Disgraced YouTuber’s husband’s attorney called for Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt to face harsh prison sentences
Watch: YouTuber Ruby Franke apologises to children as judge sentences her to 60 years
How do Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt know each other?
Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt were reportedly business partners before they were arrested on child abuse charges in August.
The two women posted parenting videos on their Instagram page “Moms of Truth,” which also advertised their parenting “coaching” services.
But in her statement at her sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Franke said Hildebrandt was never her business partner.
“Jodi Hildebrandt was never my business partner,” Franke said. “Nor was I employed by her. I have never received wages from her or Connexions. Jodi was employed as my son’s counselor in 2019 and in 2020, I paid her to be my mentor. It is important to me to demonstrate my remorse and regret without blame. I take full accountability for my choices and it is my preference that I serve a prison sentence.”
Franke is listed on Hildebrandt’s life coaching website Connexions, as a business team member with the title “certified mental fitness trainer.”
Franke’s sister Julie Deru previously said that Franke began counseling sessions with Hildebrandt in 2020 “because their family needed it.”
Her parents wrote in a victim impact statement on Tuesday that Franke had become a different person after meeting Hildebrandt.
Concerns over 8 Passengers YouTube channel
Both Ruby Franke and her now estranged husband Kevin received criticism over the years from viewers on parenting decisions they documented on their channel.
This included banning their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother and Ruby Franke refusing to take lunch to a kindergartener who forgot it at home.
Other incidents that raised alarm bells for viewers was the parents telling their two youngest children that they would not be getting presents from Santa Claus for being selfish and withholding food from their children.
Their actions on the channel prompted viewers to create an online petition in 2020 after they saw this incident and other examples of harsh punishments, prompting child services to be called.
Shari Franke also called the police on her parents in September 2022, around a year before her mother was arrested, to report her brothers and sisters had been left home alone for days, according to police reports.
Records show officers stopped by the house four more times from 22 September to 3 October.
WATCH: Bodycam shows moment neighbours learn Ruby Franke allegedly kept children in ‘safe’
Police bodycam footage shows the moment a neighbour of Ruby Franke found out that the YouTube parenting influencer had been allegedly keeping her children in a ‘safe.’
The neighbour, Pam Bodtcher, was visibly shocked when told about the child abuse.
Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were sentenced Tuesday to four to 60 years in prison.
Here’s what we know about Ruby Franke
Franke gained millions of subscribers to her parental advice YouTube. Now she’s been sentenced for child abuse.
But how did the family-friendly channel turn into something potentially sinister?
Here’s what we know about the child abuse scandal plaguing YouTube family 8 Passengers:
Ruby Franke used to offer parental advice. She’s set to be sentenced for child abuse
How did a family-friendly channel turn into something potentially sinister? Here’s what we know about the child abuse scandal plaguing YouTube family 8 Passengers. Faiza Saqib and Amelia Neath reports
Here’s what we know about Jodi Hildebrandt
Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse for trying to convince Ruby Franke’s two youngest children that they were evil, possessed and needed to be punished to repent.
The Utah mental health counselor, who had been hired to work with Franke’s youngest son before going into business with her, received four consecutive prison sentences of one to 15 years.
Hildebrandt, along with Franke, were arrested at Hildebrandt’s house in the southern Utah city of Ivins last August after Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped through a window and asked a neighbor to call the police, according to a 911 call released by the St. George Police Department.
The boy was thin, covered in wounds and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists. He told investigators that Hildebrandt had put ropes on his limbs and used cayenne pepper and honey to dress his cuts, according to a search warrant.
Hildebrandt said they also forced him into hours of physical labor in the summer heat without much food or water, causing dehydration and blistering sunburns. The boy was told that everything being done to him was an act of love, according to the plea agreements.
Hildebrandt also has admitted to coercing Franke’s youngest daughter, who was 9 at the time, to jump into a cactus multiple times and run barefoot on dirt roads until her feet blistered. The boy and girl were taken to the hospital after the arrests and placed in state custody along with two more of their siblings.
While Franke has shown remorse and cooperated with attorneys, prosecutor Eric Clarke said, Hildebrandt has not and continues to place blame on the children.
Watch: Ruby Franke says she was deceived by ‘dark delusion’
What happened to Ruby Franke’s husband Kevin Franke?
Ruby Franke and her husband, Kevin Franke, launched “8 Passengers” on YouTube in 2015 and amassed a large following as they documented their experiences raising six children.
She later began working with Hildebrandt’s counseling company, ConneXions Classroom, offering parenting seminars, launching another YouTube channel and publishing content on their shared Instagram account, “Moms of Truth.”
Kevin Franke, the husband of disgraced the YouTube vlogger, filed for divorce in November 2023, months after she was first charged with felony child abuse.
Just ahead of her sentencing on Tuesday, his attorney issued this statement to Law&Crime:
“We trust the judge to sentence them both to 1-15 years for each of the four counts, to run consecutively, and then let the Utah State Board of Pardons decide if that should be shortened or other conditions imposed. The treatment these children received at the hands of those whom the children had a right to trust, was horrific and inhumane, both physically and psychologically. Kevin remains focused on the rehabilitation of these sweet and vulnerable children so that they might return to a normal life as soon as possible.”