Ruby Franke, a YouTube parent, apologized at the sentence in the child abuse case.
SALT LAKE City Ruby Franke, a Utah mother of six who imparted parenting advice to millions through a once-popular YouTube channel, issued a heartbreaking apology to her children for physically and emotionally abusing them before a court handed down a sentence that may land her in jail for years, if not decades.
Ruby Franke also claimed to have been “manipulated” by her YouTuber and business partner.
Ruby Franke informed the judge that she would not appeal for a lesser sentence before standing to thank local police officers, medics, and social workers for being the “angels” who rescued her children from her when she was under the influence of her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt. The Utah mental health counselor, who had been recruited to assist with Franke’s youngest son before entering into business with her, received four consecutive jail terms ranging from one to fifteen years.
However, the ladies will only serve up to 30 years in jail because of a Utah state statute that limits the length of consecutive sentences. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will assess their behavior while jailed and determine how much time each will spend behind bars.
“I’ll never stop crying for hurting your tender souls,” Franke told her children, who were not present at the sentencing court in St. George. “My eagerness to give everything for you was skillfully turned into something really unpleasant. I stole from you all that was soft, safe, and wonderful.”
Ruby Franke, 42, and Hildebrandt, 54, both pleaded guilty to four charges of severe child abuse for attempting to persuade Franke’s two youngest children that they were bad, possessed, and needed to be punished to repent. The ladies were arrested at Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, southern Utah, last August after Franke’s 12-year-old son fled through a window and urged a neighbor to contact the police, according to a 911 call published by the St. George Police Department.
The youngster was skinny, covered with wounds, and had duct tape across his ankles and wrists. According to the search warrant, he informed authorities that Hildebrandt tied ropes around his limbs and dressed his injuries with chili pepper and honey.
State prosecutor Eric Clarke described the environment in which Franke and Hildebrandt had kept the children as “a concentration camp-like setting,” a term most closely associated with Nazi camps established to starve, overwork, and execute Jewish people and other minorities throughout Europe during the Holocaust.
While Ruby Franke has shown regret and worked with attorneys, Clarke claims Hildebrandt has not and continues to blame the children.
Douglas Terry, Hildebrandt’s attorney, stated during the livestreamed hearing that his client is not the remorseless lady she has been painted to be and accepts responsibility for her acts.
Hildebrandt did not apologize in her brief statement, but she did express her compassion for the children and her desire for them to recover. She reminded Judge John J. Walton that she accepted her plea agreement rather than going to trial because she did not want the children to have to relive their tragedy by testifying.
In December, the mental health counselor pleaded guilty to four of her six counts of severe child abuse, with two counts removed as part of the plea agreement. Franke also pleaded guilty to four out of six offenses and not guilty to two.
Ruby Franke and her husband, Kevin Franke, created “8 Passengers” on YouTube in 2015 and built a big following while documenting their adventures parenting six children. She then began working with Hildebrandt’s counseling firm, ConneXions Classroom, where she provided parenting seminars, launched another YouTube channel, and published content on their shared Instagram account, “Moms of Truth.”
Ruby Franke acknowledged in her plea agreement to kicking her kid while wearing boots, submerging his head in water, and covering his mouth and nose with her hands. She and Hildebrandt said they also subjected him to hours of strenuous labor in the summer heat with little food or drink, resulting in dehydration and blistering sunburns.
Hildebrandt has also acknowledged coercing Franke’s younger daughter, who was nine at the time, into repeatedly jumping into a cactus and running barefoot on gravel roads until her feet blistered. Following the arrests, the child and girl were transferred to the hospital and placed in state care, along with two other siblings.
Before her arrest in 2023, Ruby Franke was already a polarizing figure in the parent vlogging community. The Frankes faced criticism online for their parenting methods, including barring their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother.
In previous recordings, Ruby Franke discussed refusing to take a kindergartener’s lunch because she forgot it at home and threatening to chop the head off a little girl’s plush animal as punishment for cutting objects around the house.
Kevin Ruby Franke has filed for divorce since the “8 Passengers” YouTube channel was terminated.
Both Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt have 30 days to appeal their sentences.
