A business partner of Mormon ‘momfluencer’ Ruby Franke has pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.
The plea, entered in a Utah court, come as the pair – which includes credentialed counselor Jodi Hildebrandt – battle allegations they starved Franke’s six children over the past year, while restraining them with duct tape.
Prior to the day’s proceedings, Franke, 41, had attempted to divert most of the blame to her business partner and self-professed life coach Hildebrandt – who had tears in her eyes in court Wednesday when a judge read the charges against her.
In August, both were arrested and hit with six counts of child abuse after Franke’s 12-year-old son Russell crawled out of a window of Hildebrandt’s home, malnourished and with tape on his ankles.
Both their arrests quickly ensued, and earlier this month, Franke pleaded guilty to four second-degree counts of aggravated child abuse and agreed to testify against Hildebrandt – under the condition two of the abuse charges would be tossed.
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Former life coach licensed counselor Jodi Hildebrandt – a business partner of Mormon ‘Momfluencer’ Ruby Franke – pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse as part of a plea deal with prosecutors Wednesday. She cried as the charges against her were read aloud
Influencer Franke – seen at left – pleaded guilty to four second-degree counts of child abuse in December. She agreed to testify against Hildebrandt under a similar deal that also saw two charges tossed. Both will now serve sentences that will be determined in the coming weeks
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. Hildenbrant helped
Hildenbrant’s agreement with prosecutors Wednesday was similar, with both having two charges against them dropped after pleading guilty to four. All were second-degree felonies, which prosecutors said were made in search of online success.
Both agreed to serve a prison sentence as part of their respective deals, which will be determined in February.
‘There are a few details in the factual basis that we are not in full agreement with,’ said Hildebrandt’s lawyer Douglas Terry during the hearing, upon handing Fifth District Judge John Walton the plea agreement.
He took issue with an unspecified portion of the plea agreement that included information meant to help the court make a decision, but quickly conceded Hildebrandt had agreed to plead guilty nonetheless.
He also noted that the factual basis ‘sets forth facts that we agree with, that [Hildebrandt] agrees with, that are sufficient for the court to accept her plea with respect to the four counts with which she is pleading guilty.’
A tearful Hildebrandt, meanwhile, sat silent by his side, and simply replied ‘guilty’ to each of the counts that the judge read.
‘Miss Hilderbrand – how do you plead to count one aggravated child abuse, a second degree felony,’ began Walton, four months after a neighbor discovered Russell severely emaciated and bound with duct tape.
‘Guilty,’ she replied.
‘And to count three,’ the jurist continued. ‘Aggravated child abuse – a second degree felony.’
The licensed life counselor who helped Franke run the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel again would again offer a quick: ‘Guilty.’
The hearing in St George began at 11am local time, and lasted only a few minutes. It is the last hearing to be held ahead of the pair’s sentencing, slated for February
Prior to the day’s proceedings, Franke, 41, had attempted to divert most of the blame to her business partner and self-professed life coach Hildebrandt – who had tears in her eyes in court Wednesday when a judge read the charges against her
Fifth District Judge John Walton read out the charges against Hildebrandt as part of her plea agreement Wednesday
Hildenbrant’s agreement with prosecutors Wednesday was similar to her old partners, with both women having two charges against them dropped after pleading guilty to four
All were second-degree felonies of aggravated child abuse, which prosecutors in St George said came in search of online success
A tearful Hildebrandt, meanwhile, sat silent by his side, and simply replied ‘guilty’ to each of the counts that the judge read, in a hearing that lasted less than five minutes. She is seen being led back to her incarceration in St. George immediately after
Prior to the day’s proceedings, Franke, 41, had attempted to divert most of the blame to her business partner and self-professed life coach
Franke(left) ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel along with her business partner Hildebrandt (right) prior to their August arrest
Franke, a Utah parenting blogger, was arrested in August after her ’emaciated’ son – not pictured – alerted police after escaping from Hildenbrant’s. Her lawyers claimed that Hildebrandt worked to control Franke, depicting her as a force set on dominating the YouTuber
Walton went on: ‘To count five – aggravated child abuse, a second degree felony… and to count six, also aggravated child abuse, a second degree felony’ – with each earning another guilty from the admitted abuser.
Overall, the hearing – the last to be held before the pair’s February 20 sentencing – took less than five minutes, and concluded with Hildenbrant being led out in cuffs after the court accepted all of her pleas.
Now concluded, the hearing serves as the latest installment in the saga surrounging Franke, a Utah parenting blogger whose house of cards came tumbling down over the summer following her and Hildenbrant’s arrest.
That happened in August, after a neighbor came across her ’emaciated’ son just outside Hildenbrant’s residence, and alerted police after finding the preteen’s legs bound with duct tape.
In the fallout, multiple neighbors came forward to express their concern at Franke’s parenting, after a common theme on Franke’s family-centered channel was allowing children personal freedom and regularly throwing away their belongings.
Perhaps the most famous incident saw Franke punish her six-year-old daughter for forgetting her school lunch at home by refusing to bring it to her.
Another incident involving one of Franke’s sons further raised eyebrows said that he was sleeping on a beanbag in a hallway after being kicked out of his room for making fun of his other sibling.
In an interview with Business Insider, Franke explained the latter by insisting that sleeping on the bean bag had been the boy’s choice.
The family blew up on social media after beginning to post videos in 2015, though Franke’s tough parenting style often drew criticism
The couple’s Springville, Utah home was the site of years of child abuse, prosecutors have proven. The full extent of abuse has yet to be specified
That came after years of people calling out Franke’s style of disciplining her kids.
In 2022, police were called to the Franke’s home after a neighbor alleged she had left her children unsupervised for four days. An officer said that the children refused to answer the door when he knocked.
The YouTuber’s eldest daughter, Shari Franke, also made contact with the police around this time.
Franke first launched her infamous YouTube channel in 2015, a demonstrated her parenting techniques with the backdrop being the family’s Mormon faith.
By 2020, people who viewed Franke’s content on YouTube had started a petition for have her investigated by Child Protective Services.
The channel eventually vanished from the internet in January 2023 with a around 2.3 million subscribers.
‘Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,’ a neighbor told NBC News in August after both women were linked to the abusive behavior.
‘I remember that she took away their Christmas one year and she would says things like: “They’re not repenting correctly,” which is a Mormon term for “they’re sinning.” Just complete insanity,’ he added.
At the time, Hildebrandt and Franke ran another YouTube channel, ConneXions, in which they claimed to be able to help followers create positive relationships.
Hildebrandt, not Franke, founded ConneXions, which also pushes harsh parenting.
Franke’s lawyers last monnth framed Hildebrandt as a Machiavelian presence who worked relenlessly to control Franke, and a force set on dominating the YouTuber’s catalog.
In a statement late last week, Franke’s lawyers claimed Hildebrant “systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke.
‘This prolonged isolation,’ the bulletin continued, ‘resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality, shaped by Ms. Hildebrandt’s influence.”
Franke also made shocking claims shocking claims that one of her minor children sexually abused their sibling and molested several other family members and children in the neighborhood over the years.
Franke’s three sisters have since come out and distanced themselves from their sibling, and stated they had kept quiet about the abuse amid concerns ‘for the sake of her [Franke’s] children].
Hildebrandt, meanwhile, surrendered her counseling licenses shortly after the arrest while Franke’s husband formally filed for divorce.
The couple share six children together: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve. Much of the Momfluencer’s content was filmed out of their Springville, Utah home, where they were subjected to abuse for at least a year, prosecutors said,
The full extent of the abuse, as of Wednesday, remains unknown, with the exact instances pertaining to each count not specified.
Both women are being held without bail at Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility. Their sentencing dates are slated for the same day in February.