Parenting Tips YouTuber Mum Receives Maximum Prison Sentence for Child Abuse

Youtube: @Conspira tea

In Utah, US, parenting influencer Ruby Franke, 38, was sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment for child abuse on Tuesday.

Franke, who rose to fame on YouTube with her channel ‘8 Passengers’, was in court with her business partner, mental health counselor, and mother-in-law Jodi Hildbrandt.

Both were arrested in December following an August 2016 incident in which one of her children reported the abuse to neighbours in Ivins, Utah.

The cops said that the kid, who's only 12 years old, bolted out of his house by climbing out of a window and went to a neighbor for assistance. 

They mentioned that he was skinny, had cuts on his arms and legs, and was tied up with duct tape on his ankles and wrists.

When the police searched the house, they found out that Franke had mistreated her other kids in similar manners.

In her plea deal, Franke admitted to submerging her son's head underwater, smothering his nose and mouth with her hands, and kicking him with her boots on.

In her plea deal, 42-year-old Franke admitted that she and co-defendant Hildebrandt forced her son to work for hours in the sweltering summer heat without sunscreen or water, leading to severe sunburns and dehydration. 

Franke, who at one point had over 2 million subscribers on YouTube, was accused of convincing her youngest children they were "evil and possessed" and needed to "repent" for their actions. 

State prosecutor Eric Clarke said that Franke's 9-year-old daughter "was living in a concentration camp-like environment" and that the children were regularly deprived of food, water, bedding, and virtually any form of entertainment. 

Hildebrandt admitted to either being complicit in the abuse of the children or knowing it was happening, and admitted to forcing her youngest daughter "multiple times" to jump into a cactus, as well as walking on dirt roads barefoot until her feet burned.

As she sobbed in court on Tuesday, Franke apologized to her six children and said she would never forget the pain she caused them. 

"I was ready to give up everything for you," she declared. All that was good, safe, and soft, I took from you. I was so perplexed that I believed that darkness was superior to right.

I was led to believe this world is evil, full of cops that control, hospitals that hurt, government agencies that are brainwashed, church leaders who are deceitful and lustful, husbands who will not protect their wives, and children who need to be abused."

Franke and her former partner, Mark Hildebrandt, admitted their guilt for two charges of severe child abuse and were given a prison term of 4 to 15 years, with the possibility of serving up to 60 years.

The sentences will run consecutively and will be determined by the state’s parole board at a later date.

Franke's former spouse, Kevin Franke, has initiated divorce proceedings and requested the harshest punishment for her, labeling her treatment of their children as 'appalling and cruel'.