The YouTube parenting guru and mother of six, Ruby Franke, was sentenced to four years in prison for grave child abuse on Tuesday. Our terms are one to five years.
After eight passengers (2.3 million subscribers) disappeared and Franke’s 12-year-old son—wrapped in duct tape and with open wounds—slipped out of Jodi Hildebrandt’s window to ask a neighbor for food and water, the 42-year-old was arrested and transported to Ivins, southern Utah, jail.
Hildebrandt saw Franke’s hunger. Shari Franke, 20, scrawled “finally” in a police photo. A snapshot vanished.
In December, Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt admitted second-degree aggravated child abuse. The Hildebrandt, Germany-based life coaching firm ConneXions co-produced parenting and relationship videos. Hildebrandt and Franke were arrested Tuesday.
She apologized to her children in prison, claiming she “thought dark was light and right was wrong.” I would give anything for you. I brought your warm clothes.
“I’ve chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion for the past four years.” “I would distance myself from anyone who didn’t agree with me, so my distorted view of reality remained largely unquestioned.”
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Hildebrandt, 54, wants youngsters to “heal physically and emotionally.”
“I pray and hope they get better and have happy, satisfied lives,” she adds. I wouldn’t raise depressed kids.
Sharing parenting tips, or “sharenting,” began with this episode. Critics call it unethical and invasive of children’s privacy.
Illinois granted child performers pay last August. The 1939 Coogan Act protected children in California from harm when they were online.
Many people complained to the police about Ruby Franke’s strict parenting before her arrest. Chad, 15, the son of an Insider couple, slept on a beanbag for seven months in 2015. Child protective services were summoned.
Kevin and Franke said Santa wouldn’t bring their two youngest children gifts. Their attitude and refusal to accept responsibility for staying home from school and sweeping the carpets caused this.
Franke’s counselor said Hildebrandt “systematically isolated” her from her family and ruined her morality. Franke’s lawyer said Ruby was “devastated,” but she accepted their December divorce.
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