Ruby Franke, the YouTube mom who gave parenting advice, pleads guilty to child abuse

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel No child should be subjected to this kind of treatment no matter what they did. I came from a physically and mentally abusive household growing up. That's why I joined the Marines at seventeen; to get away from home and many runaway attempts. I vividly remember my biological mother (I don't classify her as my mother, hence the biological statement) holding my head under water when I was four years old.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested on Aug. 30 after Franke's 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt's house in the southern Utah city of Ivins and asked a neighbor to call police, according to the 911 call released by the St. George Police Department.

The boy was emaciated and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists but wouldn’t say why, the caller reported.

“I think he’s been ... he’s been detained,” the caller said, his voice breaking up. “He’s obviously covered in wounds.”

The boy and Franke's daughter, who was also found at Hildebrandt's house, were taken to the hospital. Eventually, Franke's four youngest children were taken into state custody.

Franke and Hildebrandt were each charged with six felony counts of aggravated child abuse. They have remained jailed since their arrests.

During Franke's incarceration, “she has actively engaged in an introspection that has allowed her to reset her moral compass and understand the full weight of her actions. Ms. Franke is committed to taking responsibility for the part she played in the events leading up to her incarceration,” the statement said.

The boy told investigators that “Jodi” put the ropes on his ankles and wrists and that they used cayenne pepper and honey to dress the wounds caused by the ropes, according to a search warrant.

Hildebrandt has agreed not to see patients until the allegations are addressed by state licensing officials. Her next court hearing is set for Dec. 27, according to court records. Her attorney, Douglas Terry, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the allegations made against Hildebrandt in the statement by Franke's attorney.

The Franke family was criticized online for its “8 Passengers” video blog showing parenting decisions including banning their oldest son from his bedroom for seven months for pranking his younger brother. In other videos, Ruby Franke talked about refusing to take lunch to a kindergartener who forgot it at home and threatening to cut the head off a young girl’s stuffed toy to punish her for cutting things in the house.

In one video, Franke said she and her husband told their two youngest children that they would not be getting presents from Santa Claus one year because they had been selfish and weren’t responding to punishment like being kept home from school and cleaning the floorboards.

The YouTube channel, which started in 2015, ended after seven years.

Franke’s husband, Kevin Franke, has filed for divorce."