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Thursday, Oct 16, 2025
Outside the box.
Parenting advice YouTuber given maximum sentence for child abuse
Utah-based parenting vlogger Ruby Franke, 42, has been condemned to a minimum of four years in prison for committing child abuse.
She and her ex-business associate Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, were both sentenced to consecutive terms adding to one to 15 years each, the harshest punishment permitted by state law.
Their time in prison will ultimately be decided by the parole board, and Franke can contest the sentence within 30 days.
In a tearful court appearance, Franke apologized for subjecting her children to severe maltreatment, including starvation and physical abuse. The prosecutor described the living conditions as reminiscent of a "concentration camp" and highlighted the absence of basic necessities and comforts in the children's lives.
The duo's arrest in August 2023 followed after Franke's undernourished 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt's residence seeking help and exhibiting injuries from being bound.
This incident brought to a close Franke's contentious run as a YouTube influencer with over two million followers on her channel 8 Passengers, which depicted her family's life but also raised red flags among viewers.
Despite initial denials of wrongdoing and claims of misrepresented content, scrutiny intensified when allegations of her dubious disciplinary methods surfaced, leading to the decline and eventual deletion of her YouTube channel in 2022.
Franke's continued collaboration with Hildebrandt on the latter’s ConneXions Classroom channel masked even more severe abuses happening off-screen.
During the plea deal, Hildebrandt admitted to actively participating in or being aware of the children's torture. The children suffered beatings, forced labor, and were even compelled to endure harmful acts like jumping into a cactus.
Franke's estranged husband supported the demand for the maximum penalty, describing the ordeal his children underwent as "horrific and inhumane."
Their time in prison will ultimately be decided by the parole board, and Franke can contest the sentence within 30 days.
In a tearful court appearance, Franke apologized for subjecting her children to severe maltreatment, including starvation and physical abuse. The prosecutor described the living conditions as reminiscent of a "concentration camp" and highlighted the absence of basic necessities and comforts in the children's lives.
The duo's arrest in August 2023 followed after Franke's undernourished 12-year-old son escaped Hildebrandt's residence seeking help and exhibiting injuries from being bound.
This incident brought to a close Franke's contentious run as a YouTube influencer with over two million followers on her channel 8 Passengers, which depicted her family's life but also raised red flags among viewers.
Despite initial denials of wrongdoing and claims of misrepresented content, scrutiny intensified when allegations of her dubious disciplinary methods surfaced, leading to the decline and eventual deletion of her YouTube channel in 2022.
Franke's continued collaboration with Hildebrandt on the latter’s ConneXions Classroom channel masked even more severe abuses happening off-screen.
During the plea deal, Hildebrandt admitted to actively participating in or being aware of the children's torture. The children suffered beatings, forced labor, and were even compelled to endure harmful acts like jumping into a cactus.
Franke's estranged husband supported the demand for the maximum penalty, describing the ordeal his children underwent as "horrific and inhumane."
