2023-09-02 22:38:49
An American youtuber who exhibited his family life and promoted strict conduct practices on social networks remained in police custody this Saturday after being arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse, authorities from a town in the state of Utah reported.
Ruby Franke and her co-worker Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested Wednesday in the city of Ivins in that western state of the country after one of their children, skinny and hungry, managed to take refuge in a neighbor’s house.
“The minor was emaciated and malnourished, had open wounds and had some construction tape on his extremities,” as if he had been handcuffed, authorities said in a statement.
Another minor “in similar physical conditions of malnutrition” was found by the police at the family residence. Both children were taken to the hospital.
The two women were charged Friday with aggravated child abuse, local media reported, and were still in remand on Saturday, according to county jail officials.
Franke, a mother of six children, became known thanks to her now-deactivated YouTube channel “8 Passengers”, in which she portrayed her family’s daily life and promoted strict educational rules, including the deprivation of food as a measure of punishment. .
In excerpts from her videos, shared by netizens after her arrest, Franke threatens her children with “losing the privilege of feeding.” In another fragment, one of the children explains that she has been sleeping on a beanbag for several months after “losing her room” for making a joke in bad taste.
The channel was suspended by YouTube. According to US media, at one point about 2.5 million people were following the program.
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