Ruby Franke, wearing grey-and-white jail clothing, stood and closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pleading guilty on each of the first three charges individually. On the fourth, she fought back some emotion before saying: “With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty.”
This image from video shows Ruby Franke during a hearing Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Photo / AP
Judge John J. Walton accepted the plea agreement and scheduled sentencing for February 20. The agreement left the sentencing up to the judge, her lawyer, LaMar Winward said.
“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,” Walton clarified.
Ruby Franke during a virtual court appearance in Utah. Photo / AP
Franke pleaded not guilty on two other charges, court records say, and was returned to custody after the hearing.
Under Utah law, second-degree aggravated child abuse can be charged if that person knowingly or intentionally inflicts serious physical injury to a child or causes or permits another to inflict serious physical injury to their child. Each charge carries a sentence of one to 15 years’ prison.
Winward Law announced on Friday that the alleged abuse occurred while Franke was influenced by a relationship counsellor who led her to “a distorted sense of morality”.
“Ruby Franke is a devoted mother and is also a woman committed to constant improvement,” Winward Law said. Franke initially believed that Jodi Hildebrandt “had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement”, but said Hildebrandt “took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous”.
Hildebrandt “systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke”, the Winward Law statement said.
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on August 30 after Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s house in the southern Utah city of Ivins and asked a neighbour to call police, according to the 911 call released by the St George Police Department.
Ruby Franke (left) who ran the 8 Passengers YouTube channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt. Photo / utahvloggersyas
The boy was emaciated and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists, but wouldn’t say why, the caller reported.
“I think he’s been ... he’s been detained,” the caller said, his voice breaking up. “He’s obviously covered in wounds.”
Franke’s 10-year-old daughter, too, was found at Hildebrandt’s house, court records say. Both children were taken to hospital. Eventually, Franke’s four youngest children were taken into state custody.
Franke and Hildebrandt were each charged with aggravated child abuse. They have remained jailed since their arrests.
During Franke’s incarceration, “she has actively engaged in an introspection that has allowed her to reset her moral compass and understand the full weight of her actions. Franke is committed to taking responsibility for the part she played in the events leading up to her incarceration,” the statement said.
The 12-year-old boy told investigators that “Jodi” put the ropes on his ankles and wrists and that they used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds caused by the ropes, according to a search warrant.
Ruby Franke, with her husband, is well known for her strict parenting style on the channel. Photo / abbeyfranke_8passengers
Hildebrandt has agreed not to see patients until the allegations are addressed by state licensing officials. Her next court hearing is set for December 27, according to court records. Her lawyer, Douglas Terry, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the allegations made against Hildebrandt in the statement by Franke’s lawyer.
The Franke family were criticised online for its 8 Passengers video blog showing parenting decisions that included banning their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother. In other videos, Ruby Franke talked about refusing to take lunch to a kindergartener who forgot it at home ,and threatening to cut the head off a young girl’s stuffed toy to punish her for cutting things in the house.
In one video, Franke said she and her husband told their two youngest children they would not be getting presents from Santa Claus one year because they had been selfish and weren’t responding to punishment such as being kept home from school and cleaning the floorboards.
The YouTube channel, which started in 2015, ended after seven years.
