YouTuber Ruby Franke Breaks Down in Tears at Sentencing for Child Abuse

Ruby Franke, a YouTube star, could spend decades behind bars for child abuse.

Franke and her former business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested in August 2023. Both pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse in December 2023 for abusing two of Ruby’s six children.

Now, a judge in Utah has sentenced the women to serve one to 15 years per count, consecutively. While that would add up to four to 60 years behind bars, Business Insider reports that Utah law prohibits consecutive sentences longer than 30 years.

Business Insider adds that an emotional Ruby spoke in court, saying she is “ready to take accountability.”

"I was led to believe that this world was an evil place, filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect, and children who need abuse,” the ex-momfluencer said.

She continued, "My choice to believe and behave this paranoia culminated into criminal activity, for which I stand before you today ready to take accountability.”

Franke reportedly sobbed as she called her kids "little chicks" and insisted she was the "mama duck who was consistently waddling" them "to safety."

She explained, "I can see now over the past four years I was in a deep undercurrent that led us to danger. I would never have led you to darkness knowingly. I was so disoriented that I believed dark was light and right was wrong. I would do anything in this world for you."

Franke claimed she "was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly."

As she cried, Ruby said, "I took from you all that was soft and safe and good. I took from you your mother. How terrifying this must have been for you. I will never stop crying for hurting your tender souls."

Page Six reports Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested after Franke’s now 12-year-old son escaped through a window at Hildebrandt’s home. His hands and feet had been bound with duct tape and he was “emaciated.” He asked a neighbor to call the police.

According to Business Insider, the prosecutor told the court, "Mrs. Franke and her business partner held her two children, ages 9 and 11, turning 12, in a concentration camp-like setting. The children were regularly denied food, water, beds to sleep in, and virtually all forms of entertainment."

The publication goes on to say that according to the prosecution they were “beaten, bound, forced to do manual labor in the sweltering heat, and emotionally abused.”

The attorney stated, "Both children had extensive physical injuries from the abuse that required hospitalization when they were found. The injuries from the binding to the 12-year-old are particularly awful.”

"Had the older of the children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call the police, heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived in that situation.”

Franke, her husband Kevin, and their six children rose to fame on the “8 Passengers” YouTube channel.