Ruby Frank’s estranged husband was seen on bodycam footage asking cops to charge his daughter for robbery shortly after the mommy blogger was arrested for child abuse.
Disgraced Utah parenting blogger Ruby, 41, was arrested in August after her ’emaciated’ son alerted police to allegedly horrific neglect. Ruby ran a controversial parent counselling service, ConneXions, along with business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, who was also arrested.
The Mormon YouTuber, who ran the 8 Passengers page, and Hildebrant were charged with six counts of child abuse each after police rescued two of Ruby’s six children at Hildebrant’s home. Both children appeared to be malnourished, and police then raided Ruby’s home nearby to locate her other children.
Two days after Ruby was arrested following the raid at the home, her estranged husband, Kevin Franke, called police, claiming the home had been broken into and robbed, and blaming their eldest daughter, Shari, 20.
‘Explain to me again why this was not robbery?’ Kevin asked detectives when they returned the items, as seen on the newly released bodycam footage.
Ruby Frank’s estranged husband asked cops to arrest his daughter for robbery shortly after the mommy blogger was arrested for child abuse
Disgraced parenting blogger Ruby Franke and her estranged husband Kevin
After Ruby was arrested, Kevin called police, claiming the home had been broken into and robbed, and blaming their eldest daughter, Shari, 20
But the Springville Police Department told the father that the door to the property was damaged when they broke down the door on August 30 during the raid. They refused to take action against Shari, who handed over passports, phones and tablets she took from the family property following the police raid.
Police said Shari’s intent was ‘not to deprive him of any items and that she had previously been allowed in the home.’
Moreover, Kevin ‘had not been in the home admittedly for 13 months.’
Kevin was unconvinced at the explanation and told cops he would have to research their answer.
In a police report, he had told cops that the front door of his home had been ‘kicked in’ and damaged, with some electronic items missing – claiming it was his eldest daughter who broke in.
But he ‘wanted to have his daughter charged with theft for taking some hard drives out of the house’, with officers informing him that she ‘wasn’t aware’ she couldn’t have them.
Shari returned the items – three tablets, three cell phones, three cameras, journals and three passports – to Springville Police Department. Officers then returned them to her father.
Kevin allegedly threatened to sue the police department after they refused to charge his daughter with any crime.
The police report, seen by Fox News, said: ‘Kevin stated that Shari is not allowed in the home, and that he believes she entered unlawfully and he wants her charged with burglary.’
Shari posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned ‘Finally.’ She revealed in April that she broke contact with the family.
In an Instagram story after her mom’s arrest, Shari celebrated her mom’s arrest and said she had been ‘trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this.’
Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now-defunct 8 Passengers channel, was arrested along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right) on August 30
The officers – primed with a search warrant – barrel down the door, only to find the home empty, with the children still missing
Shari also said she is ‘so glad they finally decided to step up’ and her siblings are safe.
Kevin has said he’s only seen the alleged child abuser four times since their marital split last year, and claims he only learned of his family’s whereabouts when his wife was arrested and two youngest kids, 10-year-old Eve and 12-year-old Russell, were in the hospital.
Police allege the couple’s son Russell was held to the ground with ropes while the women rubbed cayenne pepper and honey into his wounds. He escaped through a window and ran to get help before the pair were arrested.
Kevin’s lawyer Randy Kester told PEOPLE the father was ‘understandably upset that his front door had been broken, and that much of his property had been taken.’
‘Notwithstanding, what he considered to be a significant and hurtful violation of the sanctity of his home and property, Kevin has taken an ameliorating and healing path…. He has taken no action adverse to the police and continues to strengthen the bonds between he and all of his children,’ the lawyer’s statement added.
It comes as police have released bodycam footage that shows the moment armed police stormed the disgraced blogger’s Utah mansion in search of her children. Her son and youngest daughter were removed from the home. Officers then searched for the woman’s two middle children.
In the weeks following, videos circulated where Ruby gleefully spoke about forcing her son to sleep on a beanbag as punishment and refusing to bring her daughter a school lunch after she forgot to pack it herself.
Ruby, 41, was later arrested and charged with six counts of child abuse
Kevin, 44, heard infrequently from his wife after Jodi – then their marriage counsellor – came into their lives and was shocked by the circumstances surrounding her arrest.
‘Kevin was shocked,’ Kevin’s lawyer, Randy Kester, told PEOPLE. ‘It was at that point that he realized how deceived he had been.’
Ruby’s family previously told AlertContent.com that she should be ‘put away forever’ if she’s convicted of the abuse.
Her sisters-in-law Cynthia and Jennifer Franke say they believe the abuse allegations against the mother-of-six and say they are ‘shocked’ and ‘sickened’.
Ruby previously made astonishing claims during a court hearing that one of her minor children sexually abused one of their siblings and other children.
She also claimed her two children played a ‘patting’ game with each other, but did not go into further detail.
Ruby said that in May her child confessed to sexually abusing 20 people, including cousins and neighbors. She provided no proof of her sickening allegations.
Her strict parenting style has faced a repeated backlash since she started the channel in 2015.
Viewers called child protective services in 2020 after their son Chad, 15, claimed that he had slept on a bean bag for seven months.
She also threatened to bin her children’s items if they didn’t pay her cash for them, claiming it was a lesson in understanding the value of their things.
Both Franke and Hildebrant have been previously criticized for their teachings on parenting – collaborating on Hildebrandt’s life counselling service ConneXions.