(NewsNation) — Utah mom and former YouTube parenting influencer Ruby Franke was charged with child abuse after two of her six children were found abused and malnourished.
Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse in December after she and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested on six felony counts each of aggravated child abuse on Aug. 30. Franke is set to be sentenced in February.
This is the timeline of events that led to Franke and Hildebrandt’s arrests.
Ruby Franke’s YouTube beginnings
In 2015, Franke launched a parenting advice YouTube channel called “8 Passengers.” The channel drew more than 2 million subscribers at its height and was named for Franke, her husband Kevin and their six children.
But in 2020, the channel sparked controversy when one of Franke’s sons said he was forced to sleep on a beanbag for months as punishment for his prank on a sibling. In another video, Franke said she refused to bring food to her then-6-year-old daughter at school, who had forgotten to bring it that day.
In 2022 the channel was deleted and Franke and her husband separated. Franke then began working on a new channel with Jodi Hildebrandt, focused on counseling called ConneXions Classroom. Hildebrandt has been a licensed clinical mental health counselor since 2003.
Franke family police interactions
In September of this year, Hildebrandt voluntarily surrendered her counseling license amid the felony child abuse charges filed against her.
Franke’s eldest child Shari Franke, a student at BYU, said she cut ties with her family in 2022 after her mother began working with Hildebrandt on ConneXions. Following her mother’s arrest, she made an Instagram post with the caption, “Finally.” In a later post, she said she was glad “justice is being served.”
According to Springville Police Department records, authorities responded to the Franke’s Utah home a number of times over the years, twice over the welfare of the children in the home.
On April 16, 2022, a case worker from the Division of Child and Family Services alerted authorities that two unsupervised children were running in a street near Franke’s home. The caseworker had an officer drive out to the area, but he did not see any children in the street when he arrived, according to police documents.
In September 2022, authorities responded to the home for a welfare check requested by Shari Franke, who told police that her sisters and brother had been left home alone for five days while their mother visited a friend in St. George.
Franke and Hildebrandt’s arrests
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on Aug. 30, 2023, after Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s home. A neighbor called police because the boy appeared malnourished and had duct tape on his ankles and wrists.
Responding officers said they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter also appearing malnourished inside Hildebrandt’s home. The two children were taken to a hospital for medical treatment, court documents state.
In the plea agreement, Franke admits that she tortured her son from May 22 through Aug. 30 by forcing him into hours of physical tasks, summer work outdoors without adequate water and “repeated and serious sunburns” that blistered. He was denied food or given very plain meals, and he was isolated from other people without access to books, notebooks or electronics.
Judge John J. Walton scheduled sentencing for Feb. 20 after accepting the plea agreement, which described new details of the abuse the children endured, including the claims that they were possessed. Under the plea agreement, Franke agreed to serve a prison term and the sentences will run consecutively. Sentencing would be up to the judge.
Franke and Hildebrandt sentenced
Walton issued four 1-15 year sentences for each of the women, to be served consecutively due to the nature of the crime on Feb. 20.
Franke gave an emotional statement, telling the judge that she was willing to serve as long as a sentence as it would take for her to unlearn the misinformation she believed and promoted.
She apologized for twisting God’s word and thanked the judge for the chance to be held accountable.