Ruby Franke enters plea deal
Utah parenting blogger Ruby Franke on Monday pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.
Ruby Franke, the Utah parenting blogger accused of abusing her six children with her blogging co-host — and co-defendant — Jodi Hildebrandt, appeared in court on Monday and entered a plea deal.
Franke, 41, pleaded guilty to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse in a St. George courtroom.
"With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty," Franke said when the judge asked how she pleaded to the last and sixth count of second-degree child abuse.
Franke and Hildebrandt, 45, who together ran a parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel, were each charged with six counts of child abuse in September after police rescued two of Franke's children, who appeared malnourished and neglected, from Hildebrandt's home Aug. 30.
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Ruby Franke, 41, pleaded guilty to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse in a St. George courtroom. (Sheldon Demke/ St. George News/ Pool)
The first count involved the physical abuse of one child, who was "forced to do physical tasks for hours and days at a time," including wall-sits, carrying boxes full of books up and down stairs, and outdoor work without shoes, according to court documents filed Monday.
"He was forced to stand in direct sunlight for several days. He was forced to remain outside at all hours of the day and night for extended periods of time. These actions resulted in repeated and serious sunburns with blistered and sloughing skin," court documents state, adding that the child was also denied sufficient food and water.
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The charges against Franke detailed the physical and emotional abuse of two of her six children. (Sheldon Demke/St. George News/Pool)
After the child attempted to "run away in July, his hands and feet were regularly bound."
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"Binding included being tied to the defendant and to weights. Many times, the binding included using two sets of handcuffs, one on [the child's] wrists and one on his ankles. At times, with [the child] lying on his stomach, ropes were used to tie the two sets of handcuffs together so that his arms and lower legs were lifted off the ground," the documents say.
Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt, who together ran a parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel, were each charged with six counts of child abuse in September after police rescued two of Franke's children, who appeared malnourished and neglected, from Hildebrandt's home Aug. 30. (Moms of Truth/Instagram)
The second count involves the severe emotional harm inflicted upon that child.
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Franke and "another adult" tried to convince the child that he was evil and possessed and "needed to willingly be obedient to avoid punishments."
Blogger Ruby Franke is facing two counts of child abuse following an Aug. 30 incident in Utah. (Instagram/moms_of_truth)
"He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love," the documents state.
The third and fourth counts involve the severe emotional harm inflicted by another child, who was "subjected to the same treatment as her brother: she was isolated and forced to do physical tasks, remain outside, and denied food and water."
Franke and the other adult also sought to convince the second child mentioned in the documents that she was evil and possessed and needed to be punished. She was also forced to "run barefoot on dirt roads for an extended period of time."
Jodi Hildebrandt (right) and Ruby Franke (left) ran a joint lifestyle and parenting YouTube page called ConneXions Classrooms. (Instagram/ConneXionsCoaching)
Franke's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20. As part of her plea agreement, she will testify against Hildebrandt.
One of Hildebrandt's neighbors reported the abuse to police after one of Franke's sons showed up on his doorstep.
Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested and charged on Aug. 30 after Santa Clara police received a dispatch call around 10:50 p.m. asking for help. (Instagram/moms_of_truth)
"I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help, and he said he just came from a neighbor’s house, and we know there's been problems at this neighbor's house," a man said in an August 911 call reporting the alleged abuse obtained by Fox News Digital. "He's emaciated. He's got tape around his legs. He's hungry, and he's thirsty."
The boy apparently told the neighbor that even though he came from Hildebrandt's house, his mother is Ruby Franke, who lives in a different town. Police would later locate Franke's four other children at different locations, according to a police report. The boy also told police he climbed through Hildebrandt's window to escape and get help.
After rescuing Franke's youngest children from Hildebrandt's home Aug. 30, police from Springfield and other local agencies began to search for her other four kids, who were not at Hildebrandt's home at the time. They made contact with the two eldest children, Chad and Shari Franke — both living away from home at the time of the incident — in an effort to find the other two juveniles.
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Authorities eventually located the two children at another adult's house in American Fork, Utah.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt were initially charged with two counts of child abuse, but authorities later added four additional child abuse charges to each suspect. Franke's husband, Kevin Franke, is not mentioned in any of the unredacted portions of the police reports.
"Kevin was a great neighbor and loving father," a neighbor previously told Fox News Digital. "He was always seen outside with his kids, walking the dog, or chatting with neighbors. For a short time, he was a ‘moderator’ in the ConneXions Facebook group, then that ‘job’ was removed and he was also removed from the house. Once he was gone, it went downhill."
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