Ruby Franke, a former parenting and family influencer known for her strict parenting style, was sentenced to up to 30 years after pleading guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse of two of her children.
This image from video shows Ruby Franke during a hearing Monday, Dec. 18, 2023, in St. George, Utah. ... [+]
In the hearing Tuesday, Franke said she was led “to a dark place” and said she acted out of “paranoia,” but she took “full accountability for my actions,” according to NBC affiliate KSL.
Franke was sentenced to four consecutive one- to 15-year terms in prison, though Utah state law caps the maximum that can be served in consecutive sentences at 30 years.
In December, Franke pleaded guilty and admitted to abusing and starving two of her six children and her lawyer accused her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, of taking advantage of Franke and giving her a “distorted sense of morality.”
Hildebrant and Franke ran a YouTube channel called ConneXions that promised to “give you the training you need to create joy in your life and relationships,” though the channel was criticized by viewers for being extremist and manipulative.
Hildebrandt also pleaded guilty to four felony counts of child abuse and faces the same sentences, which will be determined by the parole board, NBC-KSL reported.
State prosecutor Eric Clarke said the setting Franke made for her children was a “concentration camp-like setting” and that she “committed horrible acts of child abuse,” CBS News reported.
How long Franke or Hildebrandt will actually be in prison. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will decide how long they will spend behind bars.
“I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect and children who need abuse,” Franke said while apologizing in court on Tuesday, ABC News reported.
Franke rose to fame running a YouTube channel called “8 Passengers” that was started in 2015 but is now taken down. The channel documented her life with husband Kevin Franke and their six kids, but drew regular criticism by viewers who felt Franke’s disciplining of her children was abusive, Business Insider reported, including one accusation that Franke starved her six-year-old daughter. Child Protection Services was called at least once in 2020 as a result of things seen on the channel. In 2022, Franke and Hildebrandt started ConneXions, another parenting channel that sought to “help treat those lost and stranded in the darkness of distortion.” The pair were arrested in August 2023, after one of Franke’s children escaped their home with duct tape on their ankles and wrists and reportedly ran to a neighbor's house asking for help. After their arrest, Shari Franke—the eldest Franke child—posted on social media saying: “We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”