Who Ruby Franke is as disgraced YouTuber to be sentenced for child abuse horror
Disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke is expected to be sentenced to decades behind bars today after admitting to subjecting her 12-year-old son to horrific abuse.
It completes her dramatic downfall after the mum-of-six, who ran the popular YouTube channel "8 Passengers", was arrested in August last year alongside her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt.
In the plea agreement, Franke admits that she tortured her son from May 22 through August 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.
The 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.
READ MORE: Disgraced YouTuber's husband begs for 'inhumane' wife to be jailed for decades
Jake Paul calls on John Fury to make retirement bet for fight with son Tommy
The disgraced YouTuber will be jailed today“He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love,” the agreement states.
Who is Ruby Franke?
When the Utah mum stood shackled in gray and white jail clothing as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pleading guilty to each of her first three charges in December last year, it was a far cry from the YouTube image she had carefully built.
Ruby Franke, whose now-defunct channel “8 Passengers” chronicled her family life, gave online parenting advice. Franke appeared in YouTube videos with Jodi Hildebrandt that were posted online by Hildebrandt’s counseling business, ConneXions Classroom.
Ruby Franke laughs over abuse in one of her last videos (Youtube)However, the Franke family was criticised online for its “8 Passengers” video blog showing parenting decisions including banning their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother and also sending him to a wilderness therapy camp for undisclosed reasons.
In other videos, Ruby Franke talked about refusing to take lunch to a kindergartener who forgot it at home, threatening to cut the head off a young girl’s stuffed toy to punish her for cutting things in the house.
Franke and Hildebrandt are due for sentencing (youtube)Why were her subscribers suspicious of the YouTuber?
On August 30 last year, cops were notified that a child “emaciated” with “open wounds and duct tape around the extremities” escaped her Jodi Hildebrandt, her business partner's home, to a neighbour's house, begging for food and water.
The child, along with their sibling, was in a "similar physical condition" and was transported to a local hospital. Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department confirmed the pair had been arrested in September. Franke and Hildebrandt, were each charged with six felony counts of child abuse, after their charges were upgraded.
In one video, Franke said she and her husband told their two youngest children that they would not be getting presents from Santa Claus one year because they had been selfish and weren’t responding to punishment like being kept home from school and cleaning the floorboards.
Ruby's husband has filed for divorce (Instagram)It’s because they’re so numb, and the more numb your child is the bigger the outcome they need to wake them up,” Franke said in a video. Some critics started an online petition asking child protective services to get involved. The Franke’s oldest daughter cut ties with her parents, she has said in social media posts.
The YouTube channel, which started in 2015, ended after seven years.
Tommy Fury 'moves out' of mansion shared with Molly-Mae ahead of Jake Paul fight
What led to her arrest?
Franke’s son climbed out of a window in Hildebrandt’s residence last year and ran to a neighbour’s house, asking for food and water, according to an affidavit filed by an officer with the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.
The neighbor saw duct tape on the boy’s ankles and wrists and called law enforcement, the affidavit said. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was put on a medical hold “due to his deep lacerations from being tied up with rope and from his malnourishment,” authorities said.
Smiling as she walked into a Washington County courtroom (FOX 13)Franke’s daughter was later found malnourished in Hildebrandt’s house and was also taken to the hospital, officers said. Two of Franke’s other children were placed in the custody of child protection services, the affidavit said.
After he tried to run away in July, his hands and feet were regularly bound, sometimes with handcuffs. At times, ropes were used to tie together handcuffs that secured his hands and feet as he lay on his stomach, lifting his arms and legs off the ground and injuring his wrists and ankles, the plea agreement said.
Franke also admitted to kicking her son while wearing boots, holding his head under water and smothering his mouth and nose with her hands, according to the plea agreement.
While the children were found at Hildebrandt’s house, Franke had been seen on a YouTube video filmed at Hildebrandt’s house and posted two days earlier, indicating that Franke was present at the residence and had knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment, and neglect. Franke’s husband, Kevin Franke, has since filed for divorce.
Ruby Franke's daughter speaks out after disgraced Youtuber pleads guilty to child abuse charges (sharilfranke/Instagram)Why did Franke's daughter speak out?
Shari Franke, Ruby's oldest and estranged daughter, welcomed her mum's arrest, writing on Instagram: "Today has been a big day."Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up." She added the two children were taken to hospital and were on the road to recovery.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
