Ruby Franke pleads guilty to the abuse of her children
Utah mom YouTuber Ruby Franke has pleaded guilty to abusing two of her children.
On Dec. 18, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse, which are felonies. The Associated Press reports that Ruby closed her eyes as she entered guilty pleas to the first three charges. Court transcripts show that when pleading to the fourth charge, she answered, “With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty.”
“There won’t be any argument about whether prison is the appropriate sentence and there’s an agreement about the four counts for running consecutive,” Judge John J. Walton said.
Ruby Franke, who ran a popular YouTube channel called "8 Passengers," will be sentenced on Feb. 20, 2023.
Ruby Franke's attorney LaMar Winward did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TODAY.com, nor did Randy Kester, an attorney for Kevin Franke.
The AP reports that Ruby Franke pleaded not guilty to two other counts.
Ruby Franke had operated the former YouTube channel “8 Passengers” with her estranged husband Kevin Franke and their six children since 2015. Ruby's cruel discipline tactics, which she spoke about on camera, appalled viewers — in her own words, she refused to feed her children as punishment and forced them to do push-ups and skip school to clean the floors. Ruby Franke also filmed and published a video in which she said she denied two of her children Christmas presents one year and took away her eldest child's bed for seven months.
On August 30, 2023, Ruby and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested. Hildebrandt is a mental health counselor who ran the former YouTube channel ConneXions, a platform on which she and Ruby uploaded parenting advice videos.
According to the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department, on the night of the women's arrest, dispatchers received a call about a child who “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities. The juvenile was asking for food and water."
Authorities said they found another child in the same home, identified by the first as belonging to Hildebrandt, "in a similar physical condition of malnourishment."
According to an August 31 search warrant reviewed by TODAY.com, police said one child had "deep lacerations" on his body and that the child “informed medical personnel and officers that a cayenne pepper and honey paste was made to put in his wounds."
Four of Franke's minor children were taken in by The Department of Child and Family Services, stated the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department. Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt were each charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.
According to NBC News, Kevin Franke filed a petition for divorce in November 2023.
After their sister's arrest, two of Ruby Franke's sisters, Bonnie Hoellein and Julie Griffiths Deru, posted YouTube videos claiming they didn't know about Ruby's actions since the vlogger had estranged herself from their family.
Hoellein called the ConneXions platform "bull crap" and "a complete indoctrination." She blamed Kevin Franke for the abuse.
“We had zero contact with him,” said Hoellein. “It was Kevin’s job to check in on things and he did not.”
In September, Kevin's attorney Kester told TODAY.com in response to the videos: “(Kevin) is making an effort to rebuild and bridge these relationships rather than sling mud and point fingers. He is focused on doing what is best for his kids at this point, even if that means undergoing some introspection."
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
