Franke was arrested last week after her son was discovered with open wounds and duct tape on his wrists and ankles.
Ruby Franke, the mother of six behind the family YouTube channel "8 Passengers," has been charged with six counts of felony child abuse by the Washington County Attorney in Utah, a spokesperson for the attorney’s office confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday.
Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested last week after law enforcement found Franke’s 12-year-old son emaciated and with open wounds and duct tape on his wrists and ankles. The boy had climbed out of a window of Hildebrandt’s home and ran to a neighbor house for help, according to a probable cause affidavit acquired by NBC News.
Franke’s 10-year-old daughter was found at Hildebrandt’s home in a similar malnourished condition, according to the affidavit. Officials said the condition of the children was so severe that they were transported to a local area hospital. Franke’s other four children were taken into the care of Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services.
Hildebrandt was also charged with six counts of felony child abuse. Each count carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of up to $10,000, the county attorney told NBC News in an emailed statement.
What's even crazier, from some of what I have seen online, she was/is Mormon and many/good portion of her viewers seem to be too.. they all claim this lifestyle as normal and it is quite frankly scary and jarring to see some of the comments saying she was just a 'strict parent'.
She threw their homework and other things in the trash. Said they had until the end of the day to pay cash or do chores to get it back so they could learn the real value of their things.
She took her son's bed away for seven months, apparently because he played a prank on his brother.
Oh, and the kids had to make their own school lunch in the morning. The school calls one day because her 6 year old daughter didn't have any food. She let the girl go hungry. Quote:
My hope is that she’ll be hungry and come home and go, ‘oh man, that was really painful, being hungry all day. I will make sure to always have lunch with me.
one time as punishment she cancelled christmas for the younger 2.. the older 2 got presents like usual. another time she didn't allow her oldest son to sleep in his room for 6 months oh and he slept on a bean bag during those months... when he did have a room he wasn't allowed to have a door. if you want to see examples check out mormon stories podcast. they go into detail.
Not every homeschooled child is abused, but when I worked for CPS, a HELL of a lot of abusive families used it as a means to keep their kids away from those pesky mandatory reporters.
It's scary to think that some dumbasses took parenting advice from this psychopath. There really should be some sort of test one has to take before becoming a parent.
The article contains quite a big error too. Her two eldest children are over 18, have moved out and and are estranged from their mother. The eldest daughter actually helped the police, she posted on Instagram (or maybe TikTok) from outside the house when her mother was arrested. Initial reports said two of the children found in the house weren’t hers but I don’t think they’re the other lady’s either, she’s in her late 50 iirc.