DISGRACED family vlogger Ruby Franke has pleaded guilty to child abuse as part of a new deal.
The mom of 6 appeared to turn on her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt during a court hearing on Monday in which she agreed to the plea deal.
APRuby Franke has pleaded guilty after being charged with child abuse[/caption]
APA charge of second-degree child abuse carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison[/caption]
It came just days after Franke, who was arrested alongside Hildebrandt in August, issued a new statement placing the blame on her former partner.
Franke became infamous on YouTube for her channel 8 Passengers which she was taken into custody this summer with her friend and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt.
The channel featured Franke, her then-husband Kevin, and the couple’s six children before its deletion in 2022.
Before appearing in court, Franke’s attorneys released a statement on her behalf, saying that she has worked with prosecutors and placed guilt on Hildebrandt.
“Ruby Franke is a devoted mother and is also a woman committed to improvement,” the statement read.
“Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous.
“Over an extended period, Ms. Hildebrandt systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, older children, and her husband Kevin Franke.
“This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality, shaped by Ms. Hildebrandt’s influence.”
Franke’s sister, Julie, and her parents were present in the courtroom.
She reportedly smiled at her family, who were sitting behind her, before taking her own seat.
Franke told the judge that she signed the plea agreement on December 18, adding that she read “every word.”
“I’m ready,” the mother said, wearing a gray and white jail uniform.
She pleaded guilty to each charge but on the fourth, Franke appeared to get emotional and said: “With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty.”
Sentencing will take place on February 20 at 10 am.
“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,” said Judge John J. Walton.
Franke was returned to custody after the hearing.
CHILLING DISCOVERY
Police were called to Hildebrandt’s home after a child climbed out a window and ran to a neighbor’s yard to ask for food and water.
The neighbors noticed duct tape around the child’s wrists and ankles and called police.
Authorities arrived and found one child who they described as “severely emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds.”
Another child was found in the home and was also malnourished, according to court documents.
With a search warrant, police found evidence in the home that was “consistent with the markings found on the juvenile.”
The documents show that Franke was seen filming in the home a few days before, meaning she was likely aware of the children’s condition.
Franke was also charged with six counts of felony child abuse for mistreating her own children.
Neighbors were shocked by Franke’s arrest, however, one told The U.S. Sun that there were a lot of red flags in the mother’s behavior.
“There’s been a lot of speculation about what’s been going on with her and her kids this last year,” said a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous.
“But it was still a shock to learn that there were criminal charges.”
The neighbor said that Franke’s “two youngest, that did end up in the hospital, they kind of disappeared.”
“We haven’t seen them for months, and normally, those two were riding their bikes and scooters and walking their dog around the neighborhood almost daily. And it seems like this last, I don’t know, six or nine months, or maybe even longer, we just haven’t seen them at all.
“And that was a little odd given the pattern prior to that,” the neighbor said.
CONTROVERSIAL CHANNEL
Franke created 8 Passengers to follow the lives of her, Kevin, and their children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve.
She said in a 2016 interview that the channel was so she and Kevin could feel more present in their children’s lives.
Franke said she “just enjoy being with the kids as they are right now.”
“I just want women who are still nursing babies, women who are still trying to get their families, women who are not sleeping through the night to see what it looks like at the finish line, to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s beautiful, and it’s powerful, and it’s worth it, it’s worth all the effort that families put into their family,” Franke said.
At its peak popularity, 8 Passengers had roughly 2.5million subscribers but it was later taken down for reasons that haven’t been disclosed publically.
Despite the fame, Franke faced scrutiny from other creators for several years.
One resurfaced clip showed Franke explaining that she received a text message from her daughter’s teacher because she didn’t have a packed lunch.
Franke told the teacher she refused to bring the then-six-year-old food as a teaching 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,” said Franke.
“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.”
In another clip, Franke’s son, Chad, said his mother took his bed away for seven months after pulling a prank on one of his siblings.
“I was sleeping on a beanbag since October,” the teen said as his mother laughed.
Following the backlash, Franke posted less frequently and later announced last summer that she was joining Hildebrandt’s ConneXions podcast.
On the show, the mother gave parenting advice, which many deemed as controversial.
A second-degree felony charge of child abuse in Utah carries a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $19,000.
YouTube/ConneXionsFranke (right) was arrested in August with her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt for mistreating her six children[/caption]
8 PassengersFranke ran a YouTube channel called 8 Passengers featuring her ex-husband and their children[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
