(NationalUSNews.com) — On August 30, 2023, former YouTuber Ruby Franke was arrested and charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. She pleaded guilty on four counts and is now serving four consecutive sentences of between one and fifteen years’ imprisonment.
The exact amount of time she must serve is still to be determined by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. Her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who was a mental health counselor, was also arrested and charged with abuse of the Franke children. Franke is a mother of six children, while Hildebrandt has two.
Prosecutors in Franke’s case released some of her handwritten journal, although heavily redacted, on Friday, March 22, in which she detailed the abuse she carried out on her two youngest children. Some of the entries indicated she believed her son was possessed by a demon and that the torture she put him through was for his own good. Her arrest only came after her severely emaciated son escaped and asked a neighbor for help.
Her journal detailed her own actions but also implicated Hildebrandt. An entry dated July 11, 2023, reveals that she made her son stand outside in the blistering heat, forcing him back into position by poking him with a cactus when he tried to retreat into the shade. Hildebrandt apparently tapped him on the cheeks to break him out of the trance-like state the boy had sunk into during this bizarre punishment they believed they were inflicting on the child’s “demon”.
Franke also wrote of holding her son under water in the pool, covering his mouth and nose, cutting off all her daughter’s hair and dousing her in the “dog wash”. She described the pool incident as a “big day for evil”. Franke now claims that she was influenced by Hildebrandt, who she has accused of being mentally ill. Franke’s estranged husband filed for divorce after her arrest, and her three sisters, who are also family bloggers, have released public statements distancing themselves from her.
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