Ruby Franke Arrested: Ruby Franke, a once-popular mom influencer known for sharing parenting advice on Instagram and the now-defunct 8 Passengers YouTube channel, has been arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse in Ivins, Utah, according to officials.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department announced that on August 30, 2023, at around 10:50 a.m., they received a report about a juvenile in distress. The caller described the juvenile as emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around their extremities, who was asking for food and water.
After obtaining a search warrant for the implicated home, authorities placed four children under the care of the Department of Child and Family Services. Ruby Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested in connection with the incident. The release stated that due to the sensitivity of the case, no further information would be disclosed at this time.
Two of the children were in such a severe state of malnourishment that they required immediate medical attention and were taken to a hospital by local emergency medical services, as reported by the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt have been booked by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and charged with two counts of “aggravated child abuse – intentionally or knowingly,” according to the sheriff’s website.
Ruby Franke initially launched the 8 Passengers YouTube channel in 2015, featuring her husband Kevin and their six children. The channel focused on parenting and homeschooling topics and had amassed nearly 2.3 million subscribers before being removed from YouTube earlier this year for reasons that remain unknown, as reported by NBC News. In addition to the YouTube channel, Franke and Hildebrandt managed the @moms_of_truth Instagram account, which had 341,000 followers.
According to Franke’s bio on Hildebrandt’s ConneXions business website, she was described as a certified mental fitness trainer with ConneXions who was also a wife and mother to six children. She provided content on ConneXions’ social media platforms and podcasts that aimed to empower parents and children to live in truth.
In response to the news, Franke’s oldest daughter, 20-year-old Shari Franke, posted an Instagram Story expressing relief that justice was being served. She noted that her family had been trying to alert the police and CPS about the situation for years and was grateful that action was finally being taken.
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