Former YouTube star Ruby Franke, pictured right here in a video for her psychological well being counseling service ConneXions, was charged with six felony counts of child abuse.
@Moms_of_Truth/Instagram
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@Moms_of_Truth/Instagram
Former YouTube star Ruby Franke, pictured right here in a video for her psychological well being counseling service ConneXions, was charged with six felony counts of child abuse.
@Moms_of_Truth/Instagram
Ruby Franke, the household vlogger behind the now-defunct YouTube channel 8 passengers has been formally charged with six counts of felony child abuse by a Washington County lawyer in Utah, court docket paperwork present.
Franke and her enterprise accomplice, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested last week after Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out a window and ran to a neighbor’s home asking for meals and water.
The neighbor, noticing duct tape across the child’s ankles and wrists, referred to as the police. The responding officer stated the child appeared severely malnourished and had sustained “deep lacerations” from being tied up with a rope.
When police searched Hildebrandt’s dwelling, they discovered Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in an analogous situation and transported each kids to the hospital for malnourishment. In complete, the 4 Franke kids nonetheless residing at dwelling had been taken into the care of Utah’s Child and Family Services. Her two different kids are adults.
Hildebrandt was additionally charged with six felony counts of aggravated child abuse.
An area lawyer representing Franke didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for remark. Court paperwork don’t listing authorized illustration for Hildebrandt.
Both Hildebrandt and Franke had been nonetheless in custody as of Wednesday, records for the Washington County Sheriff’s office show. The pair are scheduled to seem in court docket earlier than the identical choose on Friday.
Franke rose to nationwide fame with the launch of her YouTube channel in 2015. At its peak, 8 Passengers attracted almost 2.three million subscribers who adopted alongside as Franke documented her life as a mom of six kids and spouse to her husband, Kevin.
The channel was taken down earlier this 12 months amid a rising refrain of criticism over Franke’s strict parenting ways, which included threatening to remove meals.
In latest weeks, Franke had been collaborating with Hildebrandt on ConneXions, a psychological well being counseling service that additionally confronted criticism for its parenting recommendation, together with shame-based studying and shunning those that do not share your values.