To old vlogger American Ruby Franke, who gave parental advice on a YouTube channel, was sentenced to four sentences, from one to 15 years in prison each, last Tuesday, February 20th.
The mother of six was accused of aggravated child abuse, as was Jodi Hildebrandt, Franke’s former partner and owner of a counseling company, who also received the same sentence. Rudy Franke, aged 42, owned the channel “8 Passengers”, which no longer exists today, but had 2.3 million followers on YouTube. The videos published served to give advice to other parents.
Franke was arrested in the city of Ivins, in the state of Utah, USA, in August last year, after her malnourished 12-year-old son threw himself from a window of Jodi Hildebrandt’s house, to ask a neighbor for food.
After the arrest, another of Franke’s daughters was also found in her former partner’s house in poor nutrition, the newspaper reported. The Guardian. The two women collaborated on videos for the social network. According to the BBC, during a plea agreement, Hildebrandt even stated that she was aware of the abuse and that she forced one of Franke’s daughters to “jump onto a cat several times.”
“The children were regularly deprived of food, water, beds to sleep in and virtually all forms of entertainment,” said prosecutor Eric Clarke, speaking to the court.
Ruby Franke apologized to her children during the session and said, quoted by the BBC: “I was led to believe that this world was a bad place, full of police who control, hospitals that hurt, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and covet, husbands who refuse to protect, and children who need to be mistreated.”
“I was so disoriented that I believed dark was light and right was wrong,” she added.
The YouTube channel was created in 2015 and was used to share Franke’s family routines. However, five years later some users began to suspect situations of abuse, after one of Franke’s children mentioned that he was forced to sleep in a bean bag for six months.
The sentences, imposed on the two women involved in the case, correspond to the maximum penalty for each charge under Utah law.
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