For years, Utah mommy vlogger Ruby Franke dished sometimes controversial parenting advice to her millions of followers on YouTube. But prosecutors say that for several months behind the scenes, the 41-year-old mother of six was physically torturing and starving at least two of her children.
Franke, 41, pleaded guilty on Monday to four counts of second-degree felony child abuse after securing a deal with the government. She has agreed to testify against her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, as part of her agreement and will be sentenced in February, where she faces decades in prison.
In her plea agreement, Franke admitted to harrowing instances of child abuse between May and August 2023, including forcing her 9-year-old daughter to work outside in the summer heat barefoot and denying her food and water. The girl was “repeatedly told she was evil and possessed; the punishments were necessary for her to be obedient and to repent, and these things were being done to her in order to help her,” the plea agreement states, adding that the child “was convinced she was evil and needed to go through these things in order to repent.
During those three months, Franke admitted that she also physically tortured her 12-year-old son. The plea agreement states that the child was forced to do physical tasks for hours and days at a time, including wall sits, carrying boxes of books up and down the stairs, and working outside.
“He was forced to stand in the direct sunlight for several days,” the agreement states. “These actions resulted in repeated and serious sunburns with blisters and sloughing skin.”
Franke also denied her son adequate water for several of the days he was required to stay in the sun and was punished if he tried to drink anything in secret, according to the agreement. The child was only given chicken and rice and denied all forms of entertainment, the agreement states.
After the child’s failed attempt to run away in July, the agreement states his “hands and feet were regularly bound” and sometimes attached to weights. The agreement states that many times, the 12-year-old would be bound with two sets of handcuffs on his wrists and ankles. The bindings caused injuries that were treated “with homeopathic remedies and covered with duct tape,” the agreement says.
Franke also admitted to physically assaulting her son, including kicking him while wearing boots, holding his head under water, and putting his hands over his mouth and nose. The 12-year-old was also told he was “evil and possessed and that he needed to willingly be obedient to avoid punishments.”
“The punishments were necessary to repent,” the document says. “He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love.”
In August, Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested and charged with six counts of child abuse. The arrest came after police say Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt’s home and sought help from a neighbor. Later, authorities found Franke’s daughter similarly malnourished at Hildebrandt’s house.
“With my deepest regrets and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty,” Franke said during her brief hearing after she was asked how she pleaded.
On Friday, Franke’s lawyers released a statement signaling that a plea agreement was near—while shifting the blame for the harrowing child abuse allegations on Hildebrandt, the founder of the parenting workshop class “Connexions Classroom.” Her lawyers said that Franke was a “devoted mother” who “found herself on this challenging path under the influence of Ms. Hildebrant.”
“Ms. Hildebrant 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,” the Winward Law statement read.
Since being in jail, however, Franke has “engaged in introspection” and now understands the “full weight of her actions,” her lawyers added. Kevin Franke has since filed for divorce. The Frankes garnered millions of followers online for their sometimes controversial YouTube channel on parenting advice.
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