Ruby Franke Arrested On Child Abuse Charges

[smac97]

 

[Tacenda]

This is terrible, I can't even imagine. I've been watching a ton of videos put out by Ruby's vlogging parents and sisters. I think they are great for the most part. Ruby's parents are or were serving in Serbia on a LDS humanitarian mission. This has got to be the worst for a parent to see of their daughter and son in law, putting their grandchildren in such harms way, letting someone like Jodi H. convince the parents that their grandchildren were so bad. And even convincing them that the last two (?) should never be around other children, sickening! Jodi is evil, I don't say that about too many people. 

Ruby, may have been fairly decent at one time, but deep inside she had issues with how you treat your children. 

Here's the latest:

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/franke-child-says-cayenne-pepper-and-honey-was-used-to-treat-wounds-search-warrant-states?fbclid=IwAR1xbRcD

ETA: I do wonder though, is vlogging your family non stop, a good idea? As I watch several videos of Ruby's parents and sisters and Ruby's own videos, I wonder how much of life they are missing out on. Also, are the children having to be "on" at all times in case they're being filmed. As I was watching a video of Thanksgiving at Ruby's house with her parents and in-laws and an aunt, I saw how all she cared about was getting good video. 

Edited September 20, 2023 by Tacenda

[mapman]

Tara Westover's story, the Daybells, and now this. I am certain there is more like this going on in certain circles of the LDS homeschooler / energy healing / conspiracy theorists circles. It makes me so sad to think of the pain kids are going through here in our own community.

This is personal to me. A family I am connected to is involved in this community. They also used cayenne pepper on kids' wounds. I know that their kids aren't doing very well, but so far I'm not sure that CPS or their bishop is taking it very seriously. I won't comment on them further, but I really hope people can realize this is a pattern (perhaps not always to the extent in this story, but still very bad), not isolated cases of crazy.

It is a disease festering under the surface of the LDS community.

[Tacenda]

Just saw this news release about the founder of the 'Sons of Helaman' program. This guy was in one of my former LDS wards, I'm thinking he might have been a listener of Jodi's. I always felt weird around him, like my spidey senses kicked in as warning me something was off about him. Sadly he also was a counselor with LDS Family Services.

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/utah-therapist-charged-with-abusing-client-over-several-years-to-fight-her-demon?fbclid=IwAR0Bx_PQ-yB5Zs23958lyTOhxDLwsmUypsWdP9oypmDJSQuYtU55El1QAng

Edited September 22, 2023 by Tacenda

[Tacenda]

The full episode is on Hulu, one more to add to the list of shows on different networks about a current LDS or former LDS member's crimes.

 

[Calm]

Could you post any highlights we don’t already know please?

[smac97]

An update from The Daily Mail : How it all unraveled for disgraced YouTube mom-of-six Ruby Franke as she pleads guilty to abusing two of her children: Mormon star with millions of followers now faces up to 60 years in prison for sickening torture in dramatic fall from grace

Quote

'Momfluencer' Ruby Franke became an internet sensation thanks to her YouTube channel 8 Passengers in which her millions of viewers watched how she and then husband, Kevin Franke, raised, and disciplined, their six children. 

On Monday, Franke admitted in a Utah court to abusing and starving two of her kids as part of a plea deal in which she pleaded guilty to four counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse. 

Among other things, Franke, a Mormon, was accused of starving her children and restraining them with duct tape.  

Franke attempted to divert most of the blame to her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who in search of online success had 'distorted her sense of morality.'

Here are the counts with whish she was charged:

Quote

Charge 1 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: 854 Tawgoo Ct
Plea: December 18, 2023 Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Guilty

Charge 2 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: 854 Tawgoo Ct
Plea: December 18, 2023 Not Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Dismissed w/ Prejudi

Charge 3 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: Washington County
Plea: December 18, 2023 Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Guilty

Charge 4 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: Washington County
Plea: December 18, 2023 Not Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Dismissed w/ Prejudi

Charge 5 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: Washington County
Plea: December 18, 2023 Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Guilty

Charge 6 - 76-5-109.2(2)+(3A) - AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE - INTENTIONALLY ORKNOWINGLY - 2nd Degree Felony
Offense Date: August 30, 2023
Location: Washington County
Plea: December 18, 2023 Guilty
Disposition: December 18, 2023 Guilty

Also from the docket (entry dated yesterday) :

Quote

HEARING

The above entitled case comes before the court for a preliminary waiver hearing.  All parties are present in the courtroom.

A stipulated plea agreement has been reached.

The defendant pleads GUILTY to count 1, 3, 5, 6.  Counts 2 and 4 are dismissed per agreement.  Factual basis is found as set forth in the agreement and pleas are entered.  Pleas are made freely, knowingly, and voluntarily by defendant.  Pleas are accepted and entered by the Court.

Mr. Winward states the stipulated agreement does not bind the court to any sentence, the court is not bound by Rule 11.

This matter is set for sentencing on February 20, 2024.

SENTENCING is scheduled.
Date: 02/20/2024
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: Courtroom 3A
SAINT GEORGE COURTHOUSE
206 WEST TABERNACLE
SAINT GEORGE, UT 84770
Before Judge: JOHN J WALTON

Here is a link to a "Statement of Defendant in Support of Guilty Plea" executed by Ruby Franke.  In it she includes admissions of her mistreatment of her children.  Pretty rough reading.  

Also, it looks like Ruby's husband, Kevin, filed for divorce on November 29.

Very troubling stuff.  

Thanks,

-Smac

[Tacenda]

3 minutes ago, smac97 said:

An update from The Daily Mail : How it all unraveled for disgraced YouTube mom-of-six Ruby Franke as she pleads guilty to abusing two of her children: Mormon star with millions of followers now faces up to 60 years in prison for sickening torture in dramatic fall from grace

Here are the counts with whish she was charged:

Also from the docket (entry dated yesterday) :

Here is a link to a "Statement of Defendant in Support of Guilty Plea" executed by Ruby Franke.  In it she includes admissions of her mistreatment of her children.  Pretty rough reading.  

Also, it looks like Ruby's husband, Kevin, filed for divorce on November 29.

Very troubling stuff.  

Thanks,

-Smac

The father, if you could call him that, needs to be charged with neglect for not visiting those children for that long. Had he made sure to see his kids he could have seen the signs or heard. Apparently Jodi told him to stay away for their marriage or something. Some kind of therapy, if I'm remembering right. He is an idiot to have fallen for it. What is wrong with people to trust these therapists like that? 

And for Ruby to have allowed her children to be abused by therapy by Jodi, is sick! She watched them suffer like that, probably participated. She does need to serve time, at one time I worried about them losing their mother, but a mother like this? I watched this youtube for a bit, and heard what Ruby and Jodi did and it's a lot worse than I thought, a lot worse. 

 

 

[smac97]

Hildebrandt entered a guilty plea today:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/jodi-hildebrandt-ruby-franke-mommy-vlogger-guilty-1234937065/

Edited December 28, 2023 by smac97

[Calm]

5 hours ago, smac97 said:

Hildebrand entered a guilty pleasure today:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/jodi-hildebrandt-ruby-franke-mommy-vlogger-guilty-1234937065/

Interesting autocorrect, lol

[Calm]

On 12/19/2023 at 11:29 AM, Tacenda said:

The father, if you could call him that, needs to be charged with neglect for not visiting those children for that long.

I haven’t been following the case much at all, but just came across this…there is something wrong with the father imo if this is accurate.  He comes across as quite vindictive.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/10/07/ruby-franke-case-kevin-franke/
 

Quote

But records released to The Salt Lake Tribune this week show Franke’s older two children weren’t there, prompting a search in Springville, more than 250 miles north, where Franke lived. The documents state those two kids were ultimately found safe — in the care of another apparent colleague of Franke’s.

Ruby Franke’s eldest child, Shari Franke, 20, cooperated with authorities during the Springville search, the records indicate. Two days later, her father tried to have her arrested for burglary because he argued she “is not allowed in the home,” the documents state.

Quote

Kevin Franke told police that he believed the home had been burglarized because the front door was kicked in, and that several electronics were missing, which contained his “electronic journals,” according to police documents. He told an officer that he suspected his eldest daughter was responsible, citing a statement that he alleged Shari Franke had made in an unspecified court hearing that day.

Police documents do not specify Shari’s alleged statement, but an officer explained to Kevin Franke that the door was breached when Springville police entered the home on Aug. 30 while serving the DCFS warrant.

The officer told Kevin that police went with Shari to the home on Aug. 31 to retrieve personal items for two of her siblings.

“Kevin stated that Shari is not allowed in the home, and that he believes she entered unlawfully and he wants her charged with burglary,” an officer wrote in police documents.

The officer reiterated that Shari was only in the home to get necessary items for her siblings, which Kevin “did not seem to think was relevant,” according to police documents.

Police then contacted Shari Franke, and she returned the items — which included passports for Ruby Franke, Kevin Franke and her 18-year-old brother, along with three tablets, three cell phones, three cameras and a stack of written journals — to the Springville police station.

Shari Franke told authorities that she didn’t intend to deprive her father of the items — an intent required for a charge of theft — and an officer told Kevin Franke that police would not be recommending any charges be filed against Shari, according to police documents.

“Kevin was displeased with this answer and advised we would be hearing from his attorney,” an officer wrote in the documents. The officer noted Kevin later came to the police station to pick up the items.

 

[Tacenda]

11 hours ago, Calm said:

I haven’t been following the case much at all, but just came across this…there is something wrong with the father imo if this is accurate.  He comes across as quite vindictive.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2023/10/07/ruby-franke-case-kevin-franke/
 

 

Insane... I hope the aunts and uncles continue including the children in their activities. I watch all their YouTube's. The grandparents were serving a mission, but were in court when Ruby plead guilty. Hopefully they will play a huge part in their lives as well when they are finished. 

Edited December 28, 2023 by Tacenda

[mfbukowski]

This is like a ward gossip thing 

If you were not raised in Utah, no one has a guess what this is all about.

[Calm]

29 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

This is like a ward gossip thing 

It is in the news, which is reporting based on police documents. How is that a ward gossip thing?

Edited December 29, 2023 by Calm

[Calm]

37 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

If you were not raised in Utah, no one has a guess what this is all about.

Well, I don’t follow California child abuse cases that much, so not sure what your point is.  It makes sense that Utahns are interested in it and both Tacenda and I are living in Utah. 
 

Still, there are Brits that would likely disagree with you though.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12878199/amp/Ruby-Franke-pleads-guilty-child-abuse-five-months-malnourished-children-Utah-home-business-partner.html

And probably some Germans as well. 
 

 

And surprisingly even Japanese…

https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/spv/2309/01/news152.html

The world is much smaller these days. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Calm

[Tacenda]

6 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

This is like a ward gossip thing 

If you were not raised in Utah, no one has a guess what this is all about.

The national news was there at the court at Hildebrandt's guilty plea. Do you need to get out more, lol. J/K'd, I think it's great if you're not watching world/national news. It's hard to watch most of the time. 

[mfbukowski]

10 hours ago, Calm said:

It is in the news, which is reporting based on police documents. How is that a ward gossip thing?

Edit:

Never mind.

Edited December 29, 2023 by mfbukowski

[mfbukowski]

4 hours ago, Tacenda said:

The national news was there at the court at Hildebrandt's guilty plea. Do you need to get out more, lol. J/K'd, I think it's great if you're not watching world/national news. It's hard to watch most of the time. 

I live in Los Angeles.  Get out more?

Not necessary, but thanks.

 

[Tacenda]

8 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

I live in Los Angeles.  Get out more?

Not necessary, but thanks.

 

Sorry, that was uncalled for, I was being sarcastic. I don't believe you don't get out enough. Heck no on that. Just an expression which I mean't jokingly. 

[mfbukowski]

2 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Sorry, that was uncalled for, I was being sarcastic. I don't believe you don't get out enough. Heck no on that. Just an expression which I mean't jokingly. 

Hey no problem, I missed the sarcasm and thought you were serious ! 

You crack me up!

It's like literally, we have a high tide and it's on the national news.  Rain storms? The same.

We have questionable cop shootings weekly, it seems, our murder stories are on 20/20.  Either NY or LA about the same.  All national it seems.

You just can't keep up with it all!

And how does it improve my life? Who cares?

Fergitaboutit!  🤔

[Calm]

1 hour ago, mfbukowski said:

Hey no problem, I missed the sarcasm and thought you were serious ! 

You crack me up!

It's like literally, we have a high tide and it's on the national news.  Rain storms? The same.

We have questionable cop shootings weekly, it seems, our murder stories are on 20/20.  Either NY or LA about the same.  All national it seems.

You just can't keep up with it all!

And how does it improve my life? Who cares?

Fergitaboutit!  🤔

Then why not just ignore it and let others who want to stay aware of such things do so and whether for themselves or others read and post without the negative, dismissive commentary of their posts.  No one is asking you to read and respond to this.  If it is a waste of your time to read about the cases, surely it is even a greater waste of time to tell everyone what a waste of time stuff is over and over.

Edited December 30, 2023 by Calm

[Tacenda]

8 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

Hey no problem, I missed the sarcasm and thought you were serious ! 

You crack me up!

It's like literally, we have a high tide and it's on the national news.  Rain storms? The same.

We have questionable cop shootings weekly, it seems, our murder stories are on 20/20.  Either NY or LA about the same.  All national it seems.

You just can't keep up with it all!

And how does it improve my life? Who cares?

Fergitaboutit!  🤔

Oh my goodness, I did see a snippet of the storm and the tide coming in and bulldozing everyone in CA. I saw it out of the corner of my eye wherever I was and didn't get to see what happened. In Utah we have it pretty good until the big earthquake that has been loomin over us all. But do see what you mean about media taking it out of proportion! 

Can I tell you something that will maybe crack you up some more??

Back when I met Garden Girl in Oregon where she lives near the ocean and my husband and I were traveling down the coast, we met her for breakfast. She told me I was way younger than she thought I was on this board, to her she imagined me to be totally different. Well, when I first read your posts or had conversations years ago, I pictured you to be a lot younger. So it's interesting how perceptions happen.  Not that you're super old, but in my mind's eye you were this artsy fartsy young guy, lol. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by Tacenda

[Teancum]

On 9/3/2023 at 3:24 PM, blackstrap said:

Is there something in the water/snow that produces these nutbars ?

Mormonism?

[MustardSeed]

On 12/28/2023 at 11:37 PM, mfbukowski said:

no one has a guess what this is all about.

Im not in utah or idaho and this was the talk of the table on a cruise I was on.  All mormon actives, sure.  But it's a small world in the church and people knew people who had seen hildebrandt for therapy and the word on the street was that if you went to her for therapy you'd end up divorced - so some husbands refused to go to her and they ended up divorced anyway because Hilde convinced the wives sight unseen that the husbands were no good. 

As a therapist this interests me, for what its worth. 

[Tacenda]

4 hours ago, MustardSeed said:

Im not in utah or idaho and this was the talk of the table on a cruise I was on.  All mormon actives, sure.  But it's a small world in the church and people knew people who had seen hildebrandt for therapy and the word on the street was that if you went to her for therapy you'd end up divorced - so some husbands refused to go to her and they ended up divorced anyway because Hilde convinced the wives sight unseen that the husbands were no good. 

As a therapist this interests me, for what its worth. 

There is a photo of Hilde with Thom Harrison and Tim Ballard for the EternalCore conference. Strange how these crimes come from these people. Very strange or not strange but they might come from some strange teachings or something, guessing here. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/171k4tz/visions_of_a_glorious_thread_the_krogue_meldrum/

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Tacenda