Hidden True Crime - RUBY FRANKE/JODI HILDEBRANDT SENTENCED: Mormon Stories and Hidden True Crime discuss the religious elements in the case

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

A HIDDEN TRUE CRIME COLLABORATION WITH MORMON STORIES PODCAST with Host John Dehlin and Lauren Matthias. Justice is served in a Utah courtroom on February 20th, 2024 in the case of YouTuber mom Ruby Franke and her therapist Jodi Hildebrandt. Hidden Host Lauren Matthias reported live that morning from St George, Utah. Host and psychologist Dr John Matthias will also soon weigh in on the statements. August 30, 2023--a brave 12-year-old boy escapes a house of torture in Southern Utah --rescuing himself and his 10-year-old sister. A neighbor feeds the emaciated boy and calls 911. The children's mother YouTube Celebrity Ruby Franke, and Ruby's therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, are arrested and charged with 6 counts of aggravated child abuse. Our Sponsors:* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/HIDDENTRUECRIME* Check out Acorns: https://acorns.com/HIDDENTRUECRIME* Check out Armoire and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://www.armoire.style* Check out Effecty and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://www.effecty.com* Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code HIDDENTRUECRIME for a great deal: https://happymammoth.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/hidden-a-true-crime-podcast1836/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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happiness at work from AI products. Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Mormon Stories podcast.

Today we are breaking news. Today we are covering the sentencing of Ruby Frankie eight passengers, Mormon mommy,

YouTube sensation Ruby Frankie and connections. Coach Life Frankie. coach therapist Jody Hildebrand. Today was their sentencing to cut to the chase.

Both of them have been sentenced to, I think, a minimum of four years in prison. So we're here to talk about that today. And as always, we are really honored to have with us back, Lauren Matthias, of Hidden True Crime Podcast. Hey, Lauren. Hey, John, honored to be here. Always an honor to collaborate with you. And you're joining us from St. George, is that right? Yes, joining you from St. George, Utah, where the sentencing took place.

I just, I had to travel here. I had to. Boots on the ground. It's in me. The journalist is in me. I got to be here. I love it. So here I am.

So Lauren, we've had you on before, but for those who are joining us for the first time or who are seeing you for the first time, why don't you tell everybody really quickly what Hidden True Crime podcast is, just. for those who don't know. Absolutely. Hidden True Crime Podcast delves into the hidden motives of real crime stories. So what creates the person? My co-host is my husband, a forensic psychologist, Dr. John Matthias, who's holding down the fort right now at home while I'm traveling here. And John and I, this John, Mormon stories, John and I have been collaborating quite a lot because it turns out that a lot of criminals these days, at least in 2023, and victims as well have been LDS.

And it's such an important aspect to cover and grateful to be collaborating with you and to talk about hard things. So thank you. Absolutely. And for those you don't know, Lauren's kind of one of the world's experts in the Chad Deba, Lori Vallo case. And she covers many other, she and her husband John cover many other cases as well. So before we get to today's, I don't know, is it called a hearing, sentencing hearing, is that what it was called? Sentencing. Yeah, sentencing hearing.

Why don't we back up? I know there was some news. I think I saw some news about a statement. Ruby's husband Kevin may have made yesterday about wanting her to get prison time. But for those who maybe have joined us for our collaborations together, why don't, why don't, Lauren, you start by catching us up on any updates from our last, maybe from our last meeting till now, if anything comes to mind. And if nothing's happened, you know, I'm kind of put it on your spot, putting you on the spot here. But if anything has happened in the past few weeks or months,

why don't you catch us up on that first? Thank you. Yeah. You know, I, yeah, I will say that not too much has happened when it comes to last time you and I went live together and collaborated on this case. I actually think most of the updates have come from you. You've had more victims on that were Jody Hilda Brand's victims or claimed that they were Jody Hilda Brant's victims. So the last time you and I were on, we learned some really terrible details about the crime they were. It was, they both took plea deals. And at those pleadials, we learned some of the horrendous torture. And those were the court's words, you know, of these children, EF and RF, the victims, the 10-year-old girl, EF, and the 12-year-old boy, or F, that happened.

We learned details of this, of everything they went through. Today in court, they refer to it as a concentration camp. So then they pretty much said at that plea deal or at that when they took the plea, the guilty plea, that they would both be sentenced on February 20th. And here we are. That date stayed. And that is what happened today. They both appeared, Ruby first.

followed by Jody. They both gave statements before the court. And it was really interesting what was said. There were differences between the two statements and differences between what the judge said about both of them. And I've got those clips isolated, so we're going to play them. So we're definitely going to play those clips. Did you hear anything about Kevin telling the judge as recently as yesterday that he wanted his wife or ex-wife Ruby to, to get prison time? Do you anything about that? It was a statement that he made through his attorney. And I can't, you know, I can only tell you verbatim.

I can't quote it. But it was through his attorney and his attorney stated that Kevin Frankie hopes that his wife is essentially held accountable and that he did indeed want prison time for what she did to the victims, to their children. And Kevin's filed for divorce. Is that right? I think we covered that previously. that is correct Kevin has filed for divorce and I want to point out that they they have been married a very long time they met when Ruby was 18 their college sweethearts

I believe it's been over 20 years of marriage five children and he has now filed for divorce you're right okay and do we know any updates on custody in terms of whether he has yet obtained custody of the younger kids and if he hasn't obtained custody, what the relationship is? And I think there was at least one of our viewers that asks why Kevin wasn't charged as well. Any updates you want to provide around Kevin and the kids? Yeah. You know, one thing we learned in today's sentencing was that it seems like the kids are still the guardian of the state has guardianship over the children. and I was actually surprised.

I thought Kevin might be the guardian, but according to what they said in court today, it sounds like the state still has custody of the victims of the children. As far as Kevin not being charged, we can certainly all speculate about whether he was complicit, about what we saw on the YouTube channel, A Passengers, how he supported his wife, how all these things. But the bottom line is when it comes to the probable cause

and the charging documents that police have put out, Ruby, Frankie, and Jody Hildebrand are the ones responsible for the, they've each been charged with four counts of aggravated child abuse. And Kevin, during this time, was indeed living in Salt Lake City and not Southern Utah. So we can certainly all argue that he should be held accountable or, you know, we can all certainly have different opinions. But the bottom line is when it comes to the charges presented and what has, happened to the children, Kevin Frankie was not there during that time and the details that

surround this case. Okay. Thanks for that. I also think just as a matter of update, it's worth mentioning the little TikTok video. I'm going to try and pull it up while you're kind of describing it a little bit. But a funny little TikTok video from Chad popped up this week. And as I'm trying to pull it up, do you want to just describe it really quick? Yeah, yeah. And this is great too because Chad was in court today. Chad and Chad Frankie and Kevin Frankie were both in court today for the sentencing. And Chad's been pretty quiet. Like all the Frankie children sort of have. And this week, all of a sudden, Chad decided to come out with a TikTok or his girlfriend did. It was on it was posted originally to her TikTok.

talk profile and then he shared it on his Instagram which then you shared it with me John and I reposted it I'm gonna show it I'm gonna show it right now and then you can comment I just found it and this is just I think this is somebody commenting on it but it's the first thing that came up so I haven't even screened this yet but let's just go ahead and play it and see what happens tell me you guys can't hear everyone's jaw drop he just did a TikTok with a girlfriend where they make fun of the fact that his mom's in prison. So this is a woman. It says girlfriend, you'd love my mom. And then Chad Frankie says my mom's in prison and they're kind of his girlfriend Cameron first shared it to her.

And I don't know why it didn't play the music there, but it's basically him doing a little dance jig saying my mom's in prison. What'd you think about that? What'd you think about the dance jig, Lauren? When you sent it to me and you're right, the music does add, have a nice little song to it and they're both dancing to it. But when you sent it to me, I think what I responded to in your text, John, was there's Chad Frankie living his best life and sort of owning what's happening with his mom. You know, while his mom is about to be sentenced, you know, today, it was about then. She's now been sentenced today. Chad, Frankie's living his best life and owning it. And at least, in my opinion, I think trying to make light of it is probably

healthy. If you don't laugh, you cry. I applaud him for just sort of owning that and jumping in on social media and doing that with his girlfriend. I wish him the best. All right. I'm going to try it one more time here. This time, I think it's going to have audio. Let me. There we go. Okay, wait. Let me show it again. Here we go. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. All right, yeah. So that got the point across. Okay.

So those are a couple updates anyway. Anything else before we jump into today? I think you covered it. I think you covered it. We're seeing a few of the Frankie children on social media coping. We're seeing Kevin Frankie making statements through his attorney. And we've all been awaiting today. All right.

So what I've got now is the. footage is the coverage of what happened inside the courtroom today. Do you want to, do you want to say anything else who was actually in the room other than, you know, Chad being there? Did you say Kevin was there? I may have missed that. Kevin was there. Chad, Frankie was there. And then, you know, Adam Paul Steed was there. Adam Paul Steed, who is a victim of Jody Hildebrandt, well was actually he told me that the prosecutor invited him to come and sat him on the front row with his dad and family. And I'll just say for those of you who don't know, one of the most important interviews I've ever done, I think, is with Adam Paul Steed. And we received a cease and desist

letter telling us that if we didn't take it down, we would be sued. And I'm really bummed. we don't have the money right now to fight multiple lawsuits. And so I regret that we had to take that down. Someday I hope to be able to put that back up, maybe in an edited form. But our love and our support goes out to Adam as a victim of Jody Hildebrand. And we regret that we had to take that down. But I'm so happy.

And we've got a clip of Adam here as well, in addition to the interview he just did with you. If you want to hear an interview with Adam Paul Steen, on hidden true crime just about an hour ago. Make sure and check that out after you check this out. Okay. All right. So should we jump?

What I have first is sort of Ruby coming in to the courtroom and the judge sort of beginning, kicking off the sentencing hearing for Ruby. Should we start there? Let's start there. All right. Let's do it. And we're thankful of law and crime for this footage. Counsel.

terms of the sentence were agreed to as part of the plea agreement correct that is correct there is a pre-sentence investigation report in the matter i have reviewed that everyone has seen it yes what about restitution counsel before we move on with other matters we'd like to leave that open at this time your honor um this is the judge asking about restitution so i can get into that I might be more comfortable if we approach to get into that. Is there an agreement that restitution that we reserve that and for what period of time? Eight months is what we're anticipating. But I haven't talked to the Dependents Council about that.

We haven't discussed that, Your Honor. Is there any objection? No. All right. What's the state's position regarding sentencing? Your Honor, the state's, I'll stand. up. The state respectfully requests the court sentence Ms. Frankie to consecutive prison terms for each of the four counts of aggravated child abuse. This sentence was agreed to by Ms.

Frankie and her plea agreement and is also recommended by adult probation of parole. She committed horrible acts of child abuse. From May to August in 2003, Ms. Frankie and her business partner held her two children, ages 9 and 11, turning 12, in a concentration camp-like setting. The children regularly denied food, water, beds to sleep in, and virtually all forms of entertainment. They were isolated from others and were hidden when people came to visit the house where the children and the defendants were staying. The children were forced to do physical tasks like carrying loaded boxes up and downstairs and wall sits or sitting against a wall without a chair or stool for hours at a time.

They were also forced to do manual labor outdoors in the extreme summer heat. times without shoes or socks. They were forced to stand outside on a cement patio in the summer heat for hours and even days at a time. They were beaten and the 12-year-old was regularly bound hand and foot after he attempted to run away in mid-July. Both children had extensive physical injuries from the abuse that required hospitalization when they were found. The injuries from the binding to the 12-year-old are particularly awful. In addition to physical abuse, the children were emotionally abused to the extent that each believed to some degree that they deserved what was being done to them had the older of the

children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call the police heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived in that situation after being caught miss Frankie has shown considerable remorse as evidenced by agreeing to serve consecutive prison terms and being willing to cooperate with the state against miss silver miss Hilderbrandt However, given the severity of the abuse she inflicted, consecutive terms are appropriate in this case. As the court's aware, Section 76-3401 lays out factors the court takes into account in determining whether consecutive or concurrent sentences should be imposed.

Okay, a little bit of legal gobbety-goobble-to-gook there for those who aren't into that stuff. Lauren, do you want to kind of summarize, if you will, what we just heard? and then share any reactions you might have? Yes, yes. I'll share we just heard. And then I do want to actually talk about the restitution, too. I have some interesting things to say about that. So really what we're hearing is, is the prosecution laying out exactly what these children,

these victims went through. We've been through this with the plea deal. When they took a plea, we heard these egregious, horrible details. And he is referring to them once again that the 12-year-old was tied. in the most horrendous ways, Hogtide is what, you know, documents stated. They refer to the sun. I thought it was interesting, the use of concentration camp. That's a new term we had not yet used.

We have heard torture. We have heard some horrendous things, but this is the first time I've heard concentration camp. And I think that's an appropriate term here, that these children suffered immensely and that they believe that this was their fault as well, that these were. their sins and they brought this severe abuse onto them. Most people don't realize how much their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers are making billions, pulling details about you from public records and the internet, and then packaging and selling it, usually without your consent.

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That's true diagnostic. T-R-U-D-A-G-N-O-S-T-I-C dot com. Just use code hidden true crime to save 20% off. Plus, if you subscribe, you'll get an additional 20% off. Discover your true age today. Yeah, I should have probably given a content warning about that. But, you know, that's, and they reread most of that for Jody Hilder, Brandt's sentencing as well. I cut off the beginning of it because it was repetitive,

but I kept some of the end because he adds some stuff there. What's what can you explain people the conversation around consecutive versus I guess parallel sentencing and why that's important? Yeah. So they each, uh, originally the charges were six counts of aggravated abuse, aggravated child abuse. They were both originally charged with six counts. When they both took the plea deals, two counts were dropped. And they now, both face four counts of aggravated child abuse, which are second degree felonies in the state of Utah. So at that point, each count holds a certain number of years. One can be, you know, sentenced to in prison. So consecutive would mean, do you do those counts back to back, you know, finish one, then go to the other,

then hit the other? Or do you serve them all at the same time, almost? So they're saying, so consecutive would be a harsher sentence, in other words. And because there are four counts that are remaining for each of them and the minimum count is one year, it sounds like they're each likely going to be sentenced for a minimum of four years each maximum of one. of what? 30, maximum of 30, which is a little confusing. So if you do the math, it makes sense that the minimum would be four years each behind bars. Then if you do the math, it looks like it's going to be 60 years, which is what I originally

thought, but I've learned because of Utah law, the maximum that they could serve behind bars is 30 years. Okay. And they're in their 40s or 50s, right? And so that would put them in their, I don't know, 70s to 80s, is that right? Ruby is 41 years old, born in 82. January 82, so that puts her at 41. And so that would be, yeah, she'd be in there until she was 70 if she got the maximum.

And then it sounds like the prosecutor was saying that it could be argued that Ruby deserves a lighter sentencing than Jody. Is that what I heard? Yes, that's exactly what you heard, which is really interesting. And I think that this was the trend throughout the entire sentencing. There were two sentencing, right? there was rubies it was completely separate and then following ruby sentencing they then went into jodys they were they were they were they what this wasn't one hearing it was two separate hearings and uh the the there was definitely a trend of people whether was the prosecution whether was the judge whether

uh it was statements in court or after court in the press conference that jody was more responsible that jody was the therapist that jody uh has been showing the least amount of remorse that, you know, so that Jody is a risk. That's certainly something we saw throughout the day. And they definitely separated the two as far as risk factor and who is most responsible. And they certainly pointed the finger at Jody today. I'll just share a couple of quick comments. We appreciate all the comments coming in.

Linda asked with Sherry Frankie there. And then Twyla, Twyla, Twila, Rees responds. Sherry, Chad, and Kevin were all there. Deborah writes, I believe Jody deserves more time due to one, being a professional, and two, showing no remorse. And we'll get to that in just one second. Okay, yeah, everyone's, everyone, thanks for Twyla also reminding everyone to please, please hit the like button, whether you're on Hidden True Crime,

live stream or Mormon Stories live stream on YouTube or on Facebook. Please subscribe to these channels. We always appreciate your becoming monthly donors to our shows, respectively, or your super chats. All of that is how we keep going. Okay. I think the next part is where Ruby is going to read her statement. I think that's what we have next. Okay.

So this is a big deal. Anything else before we jump to that, Lauren? I think we mostly talk about it after. I sure we'll all have a lot of things to say, but this is a big deal, a big part of today. All right. Here's Ruby's statement. Thank you, Your Honor. In my few comments this morning, in the comments my client wishes to make in a few minutes, we are not suggesting, nor are we asking that the court deviate from the stipulated sentence contained in the written plea agreement.

The court to know that through respect and reflection, Ruby Frankie has become a serious student of her own actions. In the very early days of my involvement with Ruby, she was somewhat defensive, and she was still very much in dark. into a philosophy that was destructive. Fortunately, Ruby came to the stark realization of the errors in her thinking patterns and subsequent actions to say that she was horrified by this realization would be to put it mildly. I have marveled at how quickly Ruby abandoning her defensive stance

and moved toward her total acceptance of her actions and to her sentence today. So far, she has used her time she has used her time in jail to unwrap the layers upon layers of deceit and deception, forced upon her over the last four years by an unscrupulous individual. Ruby realizes that she still has work to do in shedding those thinking errors and to reestablish a better and correct pattern of thinking and behavior. Ruby realizes that changing her thinking, reestablishing relationships,

and heating are not simple or easy tasks. however she is committed to doing that work I would like the court to know that Ruby Frankie is a delightful, respectful, and responsible person. She is open to feedback and addressing the consequences of her actions head on

and now ready to address your honor and accept your judgment. Thank you, Jeff Walton. Thank you. Ms. Frankie has a statement she'd like to make? She does. Actually, I want to pause before we get to her statement and just respond to what we just heard. There's a lot of comments coming in. I'll just share one. S.L. Conley writes, I don't buy that she's totally

taking responsibility. You know, there are others that are basically saying, was she sorry when she was abusing the kids? But if I can just read my notes, they're saying no deviation from the plea agreement, that Ruby's been a serious student of her actions, that now, she's claiming to have been indoctrinated. It's almost sounding like cult language. They're basically framing it as Jody Hildebrandt is a cult leader and Ruby was indoctrinated into Jody Hilderbrand's destructive cult that once, even though she was defensive at first, once she woke up, she was horrified when she realized what she had done. Then she moved to acceptance. And again, they're calling her deceived and that Jody Hilderbrandt was

guilty of deceit and unscrupulous behavior. Yeah, what do you think about that, Lauren, or do you have anything to add there? I concur. That's exactly how they're framing this. Whether you want to believe it or not is up to each of us, but they're certainly framing it. At least Ruby's attorney is that she was a victim of not just Jody, but I would say a cult or a cult mindset that she was brainwashed, that she believed. in something that, you know, that she was in distortion, but not, not Jody's kind, you know, that she had a distorted sense of thinking. I actually did find it interesting how many times people use the word distorted today. But yeah, that this was Jody's sort of mind warp on

Ruby and that she in many ways is a victim to her. That's certainly how they're framing it. There's great, great comments coming in, not super Ruby friendly, but I'm just going to, I'm going to share a few of them. Solitaire Smith says she's only sorry she got caught, so not giving Ruby the benefit of the doubt there. I don't blame anyone for their reactions. Lisa Marie writes, Ruby was abusing her children on YouTube long before Jody came along. Jody wanted Ruby's 2 million followers. So, you know, again, they're saying Ruby's abuse can't all be laid on on Jody. That's an important point to at least highlight.

Kay Louise writes Ruby is saying what she needs to say to get out of this mess. Well, it looks like she's not getting out of the mess, but I mean, maybe to minimize the ultimate sentence. I think that might be the play going on there. What do you think about that, Lauren? Yeah, I mean, it is true. One of the biggest problems that Ruby has for herself, and I think it's fair to judge her because we saw her as a mother do some really cruel things to her children on her eight passengers YouTube channel.

And I think that's going to be a really hard thing for much of the public to look past. Jody wasn't around during those times. I mean, you could say that she was still under the influence of connections, back then or learning because there were actually quite a few years that she and Kevin were involved in connections. But the bottom line is I think a lot of people are going to harshly judge Ruby and not believe her apology. A, because of the abuse that was put on these victims, it's hard to imagine any mother being okay and being that brainwash that you would do that to your own children. And B, we've seen cruelty of hers online on her YouTube channel. And many

people also speculate, well, if she did that publicly, what was she doing behind the scenes? Clearly, we're learning. So that's what she has. That's hard for us to get past. Yeah. And I'll just add that, you know, and this is a sensitive thing that, you know, clearly most faithful Mormons don't abuse their kids at all, let alone anywhere near this. I do think that I do think we've covered before that Jody Hildebrand certainly and Ruby were number one operating under a lot of what they perceived to be teachings, Mormon doctrine, end times teachings, teachings about the law of chastity and morality. And we know that Jody Hildebrandt was frequently referred to couples and individuals and even youth by other Mormon. or Mormon bishops or Mormon leaders, it would be interesting to see if any of their statements reflected something that actually touched on Orthodox Mormon doctrine and theology or practice versus just putting it all on Jody. Because I think Jody built upon if if nothing else unhealthy interpretations of Mormon doctrine and theology. What do you think about that?

Absolutely. Absolutely. there was religious abuse involved and religious manipulation throughout this entire thing. I mean, just the fact that these two young victims believe that they were at fault and that they were possessed. I mean, it's very, it's sounding, you know, you call me a Daveyel expert. I can't help but see the similarities between JJ entirely. The victims in that case, children, two young children who were allegedly zombies are possessed. this is clearly, this clearly has a religious base to the abuse. And the fact that Ruby, I mean, let's say, like, you know, let's say that she believed Jody Hildebrand.

She, she believed then that children could be possessed. She believed that she had to have believed a lot of these religious aspects about an extremism of accountability and that, you know, I can't get over the fact that the 911 call, there's this sweet man who I've heard was home because he was sick that RF ran to when he escaped Jody Hilda Brent's house. On the 911 call, I've listened to it so many times. The man on the phone says, this young boy believes it was his fault.

And you hear the 911 operator muffled under her voice speaking to herself going, oh, that's so sad. And I think that this absolutely has to do with my sins are my fault. This is my problem. I need to suffer. I need to show accountability. And I am a bad, evil person. And religion is at the base of this entire crime or crimes, I should say, multiple counts.

Yeah. Yeah. So I hope that one thing this leads to is the Mormon Church, clarifying its doctrines around end times, worthiness, law of chastity, and maybe even standards for therapists that are allowed to practice within the community that are referred to by church leaders or the community that are sometimes even subsidized by church finances. I hope this leads to kind of a cleaning up of mental,

health services and practices within Mormonism. I hope that's a positive outcome from all this. Thank you. Yeah. Agreed. All right, let's hear what Ruby has to say. I'll have to bend down the... Okay.

I would like to make a statement without any intent to change my stipulated sentence. For the past four years, I've chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion. My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me. I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie in lust, husbands who refuse to protect, and children who need abused.

my choice to believe and behave this paranoia culminated into criminal activity for which I stand before you today ready to take accountability Jody Hildeblant was never my business partner nor was I ever employed by her I have never received wages from her or connections Jody was employed as my son's counselor in 2019 and in 2020 I paid her to be my mentor It is important to me to demonstrate my remorse and regret without blame. I take full accountability for my choices, and it is my preference that I'll serve a prison sentence. Thank you to the officers in Santa Clara and the Ivan City Police. Nick Harmon, Brian Polifo, Saipikivit, Mike Pandeyo, and Tober, John Ward, D. Woolis, and Chief Flavis. hours. You were the angels who came and saved my children. I especially want to thank

Detective Jay Bate. She plucked me all the situation I didn't know how to get out of. And the moment she had kept me was the moment I gained my freedom. You were not the controlling ones. I was. Thank you to the medical staff at Intermountain Hospital, your skill, tenderness, and professionalism helped heal my children. Jordy and I inflicted the injuries, not the hospital. Thank you to DCFS, the Children's Justice Center, George Basil, and other key adults. You've gathered my children under your wing and offered them love,

compassion, encouragement. You were not the ones who were doing the bonewashing. Thank you to my Bishop Tom Hawks and my state president, Jim Nelson. for reminding me I lost. So much pain and suffering would have been avoided had I followed and heeded your counsel. I was the one who was deceived, not you. Thank you to the Washington County Prosecutor's Office, Ryan Shaw,

the legal assistance and discovery clerks. Eric Clark, you exemplified to me how justice and mercy are meant to coexist. My charges are just. They offer safety to my family, accountability to the public, and they did show mercy to me. Thank you to my attorney Lamar Winward and his staff. I would not be where I am today without them. Thank you to Randy Kester for your limitless energy in healing my family. My dear friends, Pam and Roy, I am so sorry for letting you down.

Because of your association with me, your innocence was called into question. My mother-in-law, father-in-law, Kevin's family, my cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and neighbors, you all saw the warning signs long before I did, and you did what you could. You wanted to help, but I pushed you away. My mother and father, I have been utterly, wretched to you. You have offered me unconditional love, and for that I have offered you unconditional contempt. My siblings and their spouses, because of my decision to roll around in a pig style, I have drugged your families through the mud in public. Yet, when I desired to return as a

prodigal sister, unlike the prodigal's brother in the Bible, you seemed stuck with my parents and ran out to greet me. Your capacity to love is unprecedented. Kevin, my husband of both in 23 years. You are the love of my life. So I'm sorry to leave to finish what we both started together. The ending of our marriage is a tragedy.

Undue of my six little chicks was consistently wanting you to safety. I guess now over the past four years I was in a deep undercurrent that led us to danger. Parkness knowingly

I was so disoriented. Dark was light and light was wrong in this world for you. My winner was to sacrifice all fear was massively manipulated into something very ugly. I took from all that was soft and safe.

and good. I'm sorry. To live in a fear of the world has created a great vulnerability and a blind spot for me where I have broken hearts and I've caused people to suffer and I have betrayed sacred trust. Watching my community respond to my charges with justice and nursing and grace and love is out of my evidence to know how this world is for very good people. good people. The twist of God's word and distorting his doctrines. His desire is to stand in his quotes and be spotless and confident. And George Walton, I know, standing before you today is a necessary step towards that end.

Thank you to you and your staff for facilitating my opportunity to take accountability and to answer for my charges. I am humbled and willing to serve a prison sentence as long as it takes to continue on robbering all the disinformation I have believed and bought, swallowed, and acted out, and for my family to heal and for the community to heal. And I understand this is going to take time. I'm committed to continuing my learning until all of my toxic layers are shed, and I am ready to re-enter as a contributing member of our beautiful society.

Thank you, George Bolton. Thank you for your statement. Ms. Frankie, anything else, Mr. Winward? Wow. Okay. Wow. That's a lot. I'll just say, okay, at the outset, I'm just going to share a quick reaction.

Is that okay, Lauren? Please, please. Just the way I'm wired, I tend to trust people when they're expressing remorse or regret. But my inclination is just like, it's sincere. You know what I mean? Having said that, I'm reading through the comments. People are so vicious, not vicious, but they're just skeptical. Zero rights are her pants on fire yet?

Jane Ballard writes, the Ruby Frankie show. That statement is total BS. Monica writes, not babies, your cash cows. That's what they were and R to you. You know, people, somebody says, the Mo Porter writes, you're a part of me. That's so disgusting.

It's so controlling. Fire Opel is mad that she called herself a mama duck and called the kids her chicks. Lemisa writes, this woman is dangerous. We've got Alan Zabriski saying that these fake tears are like Mormon Apostle Henry be, Irene, just on and on super vicious stuff. And I would just say, I'll just say this.

I don't, I've gotten in trouble in the past for, you know, showing any sympathy or empathy for Ruby Frankie for giving her any benefit of the doubt or credit for apologies or for contrition. But how would we know? if she was sincere or not. And how can we know she's not truly contrite, that she's not sorry?

Why isn't that a credible, heartfelt apology? I'll ask that theoretically, but now we'll just turn the time over to you to give your first reactions. I like that. I'm going to ask this theoretically, but go ahead, Lauren. No, first off, I want to say thank you for humanizing someone.

I think that you should never apologize, John, for giving people the benefit of doubt or having empathy or sympathy for someone. We need more humanizing in this world. Let's be honest. Buying cannabis shouldn't be complicated, sketchy, or low quality. That's why I want to tell you about mood.com. That's M-O-O-D.com. Mood ships federally legal cannabis straight to your door.

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And because you're a listener, you get 20%. sent off your first order. Just head to mood.com. That's M-O-O-O-D.com to get started. To our viewers right now who are angry, they are also rightfully angry, this is someone that hurt children and adults are supposed to protect children, especially their mother. And it's heartbreaking and devastating to read what these children went through. So I have empathy for everyone and all the varying opinions and thoughts here. Separate from that, let me just put on my journalist hat and say simply, it's good that Ruby gave this statement, whether we believe it or not, it was the right thing to do.

And I think that's where maybe we can find common ground and all agree that there was no other way to give a statement, but to say she is sorry and to say she has remorse, whether it's real, or not, thank goodness she gave that statement. I did appreciate other people who thought it sounded like she was at an Academy Awards giving an Oscar. You know, I'd like to thank the police officers who arrested me and I'd like to really thank those that, you know, it was like a thanking thing. And it was a little odd at times all of the thanking. But she, especially when you compare it to her co-defendant, I can say that with sincerity. And it doesn't even mean I feel sorry for her.

But I can say with sincerity, I am so glad that this is the route she took and that she took the time to address the court and to say she is sorry because that's the only thing she could do. Because she had done a better job, maybe. Sure. But she did it. She said she was sorry. And I'm glad she did that. Okay. All right.

Thank you for that. really quickly, what are your thoughts around? I'm going to go through just some of the things she said. I'm going to go in reverse order. What's that? Okay. I said, yeah, there's a lot to impact. Yeah, so she ended by talking about distorting God's words and doctrines.

I mean, people are complaining about how distorted the audio sounded. It was, it was hard to hear a lot of the things she was saying, especially towards the end. But towards the end, she talked about distorting God's words and doctrines and that she's hoping someday to stand before God and be forgiven. So I think that's where starting because that's where she ended. This is basically a plea for religious forgiveness, right? Yeah, absolutely. It shows just how religious she is and how religious it is.

Her way of thinking is very religious-centered. And so it also shows, I think, how religion plays such a big part in these crimes. I found her interesting that she's still using the word distorted, right? I so often want to know she used it so many times. I'm like, are you doing this on purpose? Or is that just your lingo to use the word distortion, which is Jody's way of saying you're living in distortion, you're living in distortion, it's this brand word for connection and for Jody Hildebrandt. to use it in her sentencing, I thought it was really, I don't even know if, I guess I did think

it was a little peculiar. It left me curious. Was that on purpose or was that just simply a word that she knows well now? And so it's part of her, her lingo. So to say that she was in distortion with Jody Hildebrandt and distorted God's laws and gods, you know, it's, it's hard to I mean, I wish she could just simply say, this is where I have a hard time, her own moral compass. That's what worries me about Ruby Frankie, if I'm going to be really honest, is I don't know if you need God to have a moral compass, right? If God helps you to live a better life than great, but it would be nice to hear a little bit more about how she realizes that what she did was just really, really bad because of her own integrity and these feelings inside of her

but she does frame everything in this sort of religious, it teaches you a lot about how Ruby Frankie thinks, but hey, if that's how she views the world, then she's using religion to apologize to. I get it, but I wish that we'd hear more of just a basic moral compass. Sorry, too. And I'll say stuff I've said before,

but, you know, she calls it the distortion of God's word and his doctrines and his teachings, but we all know from the Mormon, context, the Book of Mormon calls sexual transgression next to murder in severity. That feels like a distortion in the modern world. We just interviewed a really important Mormon stories interviewe that was reportedly kidnapped and taken to a troubled teen center and by her account was abducted and was mistreated in very severe ways. Her only crime was having premarital sex. with her long-term boyfriend, but her parents, her Mormon parents, had her, basically sequestered

her and submitted her to this troubled teen center for months because in their minds, she had committed the sin next to murder by having sex with her boyfriend. And I bring that up, not to derail, but because Jody Hildebrandt is not the only Mormon therapist along the Wasat's front or anywhere that encouraged some of the same. severe treatment of teens and adults for anything that comes close to what the Mormon Church would deem as sexual transgression. And that's a distortion that is not dependent on Jody Hildebrand that is ubiquitous amongst Mormon culture in 2024 that I personally would love to see called out. And it just seemed, I was disappointed and I didn't expect it because who's going to

turn on their host religious culture, especially in a moment of distortion, sorry, in a moment of like contrition, you can't expect Ruby to say the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints distorted teachings around sex and sexuality and forgiveness and repentance are the core problem here. I guess part of, not to hate on the church, but that's what, I wish that would have been included. Yeah, no, thank you for calling that out. I appreciate you. saying that and cloned it out. I also want to point out, you know, the God should never, ever be in therapy, and this is one reason. It is so easy to religiously abuse people or to use God, you know, and if God's laws can be so easily twisted, then maybe, again, we should stick to

just what we know to be right and good and use more, you know, logic and our inner thoughts and emotions to understand that. I thank you for calling that out, John. And, you know, there is, a big there is a big reach now as you know with people trying to bring god back into therapy and it's really disturbing to me yeah yeah that that um that shouldn't be there really quickly were you repulsed by this idea of her calling yourself mama duck and her kids chicks like in my mind that that might have been like how she talked to her kids and she she was basically highlighting how she it seems seemed like she used to think of herself that way as a mama duck protecting her chicks, but that she dropped the ball severely. Was that tone deaf or inappropriate in your mind

for her to invoke that metaphor in this context? No, if she's speaking to her family and they understand what she's trying to say, who am I to judge, I think that I understand, And again, why it was so hard for people to hear. We think of, again, a mama duck is someone that protects her baby chicks. And so I understand why it's going to trigger a lot of people here, especially mothers. But we don't know, right, we don't know her intention or who she was necessarily trying to speak to. Yeah. Okay.

With using that term. What did you think about her talking about Kevin is the love of her life for 23 years, that he remains wrapped around her heart? that clearly sounds like she still loves Kevin, regrets allowing Jody to separate her and Kevin, and would welcome not getting divorced from Kevin. Yeah. That was sad because I heard from people sitting in court that actually Kevin was crying during that moment. And that's what made that very sad and very heartbreaking. Again, let's remember they are college sweethearts.

They met when Ruby was 18 years old. I don't know exactly maybe Kevin was 21. They've been together over 20 years. And six kids, right? Six kids, yeah. Five. Yeah. And, yeah, you're right.

Gosh. And so it was, so that alone makes it heartbreaking to know that her other half, the person that just filed for divorce was crying in the courtroom, made it difficult to know. Yeah. We've covered a bit. You know, her whole family are kind of Mormon influencers, including her parents that are on a mission, or at least were, all of her siblings at one point or another have had successful YouTube channels.

And it's clearly, this has clearly been hard on her parents and siblings. And so I was grateful to hear her admit that she was wretched. She said the words utterly wretched to her parents. and that she forced her siblings and their spouses to roll around in a pig sty. Like, I don't know, that feels like contrition to me. Unconditional contempt. She said that she showed her parents unconditional contempt.

That was pretty powerful. Yeah. So I was, based on what I've seen, I'm guessing they appreciated that. I don't know. I'm just speculating. I thought I was, and maybe you're, maybe I'm jumping ahead, forgive me, John, by him. I want to point out that she said that it was her paranoia that led to criminal activity.

You probably have that written down. So again, sorry if I'm jumping ahead, but you know, that she was paranoid that she thought the world was bad. We see so much paranoia in this world. And with LDS preppers, I'll say you don't have to. I see a lot of paranoia. And I think that's coming from a place that's been studying the dayball case for a very long time and has attended these sort of conferences. And I know that Jody Hildebrand is a big part of

this sort of prepper community in the LDS church. I would call it a subgroup of the church and these extremist preppers. And that, you know, Jody Hildebrandt, I think, was quite a prepper. She had this basement in this southern Utah home. And, you know, according to Jesse in your interview with Jesse that she was preparing, that she thought she was going to usher in the second coming of Christ. That was from Jody's niece, Jessie on Mormon stories, that interview, that incredible interview did with her, John. And, excuse me, them, I'm working on that, that you did with Jesse. And so to hear about paranoia and that her paranoia led to these crimes was, it was actually

a little bit chilling to me, if I'm going to be on. on us because I always say that there is still danger out there. There is still danger out there. And for her to claim that a paranoia led to criminal activities says something that I think we should all be paying attention to. Yeah, we've covered this as well, whether it's the Tom, you know, the visions of glory, Tom Harrison, you know, Chad Deba, Lori Vallow, Tim Ballard, just kind of Mormon prepper, movement out there.

That's what it gave. That's the vibes that I got. When she talks about the world is evil, that's second coming Mormon prepper mumbo-jumbo, being isolated, that the cops are in control, that hospitals injure. That's the whole anti-vax suspicion of science, suspicion of medicine, garbage that has taken over a huge chunk of Utah,

Idaho and Arizona, Mormon culture, that cops control, that the government does bad things. What did you think about the line that church leaders lie in lust? It was clear that she was quoting Jody Hildebrandt. So it must have been Jody Hildebrand's teachings that Mormon church leaders lie in lust, which is weird because so much of Jody Hildebrandt's teachings were built on Mormon. Romanism. Oh, no, I'm not surprised. And this is such a big deal. Thank you for bringing this up. How do you be a leader of a religion if there are other leaders? If you want to be a true cult leader and lead the people and have them listen to you and no one else, you better scare them of the actual leaders. There are so many of these subgroups that start with the idea that the LDS leaders or the church leaders are being led astray. Chad Daybell had a train dream where he saw that the LDS leaders were being led astray. I've, I've attended a firm expo, and while I met wonderful people there, there is definitely an idea from many of the people that church leaders are

being led astray. So if Jody Hildebrandt truly is a cult leader, which is, again, what surely seems like Ruby's attorney is trying to set the stage and say, then she would certainly try to make Ruby afraid of everyone but her and that she has the truth truth with a capital T as Jody would say I've read Jody's book and she by the way I don't know if you know that that she says it's truth with a capital T she has that and so if you are going to be stating that then you better be the authority and so for Jody to be saying oh the church leaders don't know I know it kind of does show that yeah that that she is, she is leading a cult and she's trying to establish herself as the leader.

But for me, it goes deeper just because as we talked about with Tom Harrison, with Visions of Glory, with Tim Ballard, this whole Mormon prepper subculture does have this kind of non-public line that somehow the Mormon church leaders have gone astray. It's kind of the Denver snuffer, you know, the restoration needs another restoration, that the restoration from the apostasy has gone back into apostasy, and that it's these independent, conservative prepper Mormons in Arizona, Idaho, and Utah that are the one mighty and strong, again, Avram Giliadi and his teachings from Isaiah. It's got all those vibes there of this paranoia and times,

can't trust the church leaders. But I think I'll just close this part with just my continued call to the Mormon Church to clean this up because the church knows how to deal with apostates. This is apostate language and the church excommunicates apostates. Why isn't the Mormon Church excommunicating Tom Harrison of Ram Giliati, all the leaders of end times prepper movements? Because otherwise they're just letting them fester and grow. and as you and I and others have pointed out,

this won't be the end, right? This won't be the end. Jody Hildebrand and Chad and Lori Deb, Chad Valle, Chad Dabell, Chad Debele, Laurie Vallow, it's not over, right? Blaze Tibido, no, it's not over. What you just brought up is so important. Let me, let me say this,

that you are so used, John, to, you know, we're so used to Mormon stories being the place for progressive Mormons or those that are realizing and believing that LDS leaders are full of it, right? But what people aren't realizing is actually those really staunch believers or the Jody Hildebrands or the people that are saying you have to live the severely black and white way of thinking. And the ultra-conservative stalwart members are the ones that are stating, oh, no, the LDIS leaders are just falling away.

don't believe them. We need to go start our own little subgroup and we need to preach our own little thing and they're creating their own little culture that is very, and I'm going to say it, you don't have to be dangerous. It's very dangerous. And I think that's maybe fair to say

because we've got Tim Ballard, we've got Jody Hildebrand, we have Blaise Tibido, we have the daybell, so I think I can say that. And so I think sometimes we give so much attention to, you know, one side of the coin that we're not focused on the other side. And so thank you. Thank you for tackling this and bringing this up. Thank you.

It's a very strange phenomenon that we're seeing that the LDS leaders, the most stalwart leaders that you would think would be the most righteous, you know, to use lack of a better word, that's their term. righteous followers of the LDS profit and follow everything to a book are actually saying, no, no, LDS leaders actually don't, they're falling away. And so we've got to do our own thing here. Krista, Krista, from your channel is calling me out. She says, I thought you were against excommunication. I will say, I'm against excommunication for people who advocate for LGBT rights, who advocate for women's rights who advocate against racism, who advocate for more financial disclosure on the part of the church, more financial transparency, who advocate for truthful telling of history. I think it's wrong.

Next-communicate those people for legal same-sex married couples. I do think that any organization has the right to decide who's a member and who's not. I don't think I'm against excommunication for pedophilia. I don't think I'm against excommunication for rape or incest, for spousal abuse. And honestly, I don't think I'm against excommunication for end times, paranoid, illegal, violent strains of apostasy. I don't know. I don't know how else the church can police its boundaries, because if you have no boundaries, you're not a people. You're not a community with no boundaries.

I don't know if that makes me a hypocrite, but I don't think I'm against excommunication for illegal behavior. I, yeah, and they didn't ask me, but I'll throw in my opinion. I am against excommunication, and I'll tell you why, but, but if you, so I'm against excommunication because I think that actually, that makes those that are LDS, sometimes a little more gullible. If you see an LDS member in high standing, you trust them. well, they haven't been excommunicated.

I must trust them. I think we should actually go by the whole once you're LDS. You're always LDS stance. But I will say this, the church leaders don't agree with me. And they do excommunicate. And so now I find myself very concerned with my goodness, if you do excommunicate and then we need to excommunicate people that are dangerous and that are concerning and that might be leading.

innocent vulnerable people astray. If we're going to excommunicate, then we have to protect vulnerable people, and that would be excommunicating the right people. Yeah. All right. The only other thing I'll add, we got to jump to the next clip, but she wanted to really make a point that she never received any money from her partnership with Jody and that she paid Jody to be her mentor and didn't I it seems like she takes issue with the idea that they were

business partners and that's weird because they were doing videos together and promoting a business together I guess she just wanted to make the point that she never got any money out of the deal but but did you find that to be interesting I've got it actually to be a really interesting piece of the puzzle it would actually make Jody in my opinion be a bit more of a user if she say no we were business partners and I was actually paying for therapy then I actually think it makes Jody look even worse. Wait, you were making this woman pay you while using her channel and her platform and her children.

Who knows what else? And then she was still paying you. I actually think it makes it look worse. I've got to bring up something, John, before we move on. Anything else you want to bring up about her statement first? Yeah, I mean, just when she mentions as a, as a delusion of hers that husbands don't protect children and the children are abused by husbands, that just screamed Adam Paul Steed.

And it made me feel sorry for Adam Paul Steed and the other husband, largely male husband victims of Jody Hildebrand. That's the only other thing I wanted to mention. Go ahead. Yeah. And not so daring, devil estating. She's saying we weren't business partners. We weren't equal. This was her in power, I think.

Yeah, it's unethical for therapists and coaches to be employing their clients, really, generally speaking. Yeah. What'd you want to say? I'm pulling up my phone notes because I got to get this right. So forgive me. I have this all reading down. Yeah, I've got to be a really, really good journalist when it comes to this because I want to point something out. And this hasn't been shared on other channels.

And I haven't talked about this. But she thinks, I think most of us know, she says, this is in quote at her statement, my dear friends Pam and Roy. I'm so sorry for letting you down because of your association with me, your innocence was called into question, end quote. Now, many people know who she's likely talking about. She's referring to Pam Botcher. Pam Botcher was a really good friend of Jody and Ruby's.

And let me tell you a little bit about Pam because she's apologizing to them, her dear friends. They're also in the body camp footage. So do you remember, John, when the children were found in southern Utah and Ivins, they needed to find the other minor children of Ruby and Kevin's. I don't know if you recall that. And so they were found up north at Pam Botcher's home. And you have body cam footage of both. Okay, so that's Pam and Roy. Okay.

So Ruby is apologizing to them. Well, let's go back. I have this written down. Jesse Hildebrand, the niece of Jody in your interview with them, states this. Pam Botcher, when I was living with Jody. So this is a quote from Jesse on your interview. Pam Botcher. When I was living with Jody, Pam Botcher was around.

She was Jody's best friend, Jesse said. And then quotes, I didn't realize that she, Pam, was connected in this. I mean, I have a very, I have very strong feelings towards Pam because of not that she was directly applying abuse, like she wasn't exactly involved, but she was one of the people that was constantly surveilling the surveillance and reporting back to Jody. That's from Jesse. Here's some other things about Pam. Pam is the president of the Connections Foundation.

And then let's get back to restitution, John. Restitution, you asked about that and I couldn't hear. So Jody is now selling her $3 million home in Cayenta, which we're like, oh, she's going to have a bunch of cash. And Kevin Frankie has actually filed something to be able to receive some of that home or some money for restitution for the victims because these children are going to need therapy for the rest of their lives. And if Jody has a $3 million home, certainly some of it, I think many of us could agree that should go to. the victims, RF and EF and those affected by Jody. Well, in that filing, Kevin Frankie states this. So Kevin Frankie's saying, you know, come on, she's got this $3 million home.

Let me read to you this. Okay, so more importantly, the defendant, Jody Hildebrandt, presently has resources from which this restitution could be funded, but such may not soon be the case in that resources may be liquidated and unavailable for access should the court fail to. immediately delay or prevent the liquidation or transfer. They're referring to this $3 million home. The defendant would suffer no prejudice by the short delay under the Crime Victims Restitution Act. These child victims are entitled to restitution, which will compensate for these injuries by the way the defendant, providing restitution for any and all ongoing treatment of these injuries. So in other words,

we need the funds from this home. And then it is stated, this is wild, that one, of the concerns is that the money to Jody's house is either in the name of the defendant, Jody Hildebrand, or it's being held by third parties or entities for the defendant that may include but not limited to Pam Botcher and Connections LLC. So I just want to point that out because I think it's really interesting that Pam Botcher's been involved with Jody since Jesse Hildebrandt was living with Jody and is the president of the Connections family. foundation and Ruby is apologizing to Pam in this statement. What does that mean? I have no conclusion, but I want to point out that that caught my attention and we should all know who Pam is and how

evolved she's been in Jody's life for a living time. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not putting anything on Pam. I don't know what she knows. I'm just laying out those few facts. It was really interesting to me that she would apologize to Pam. I don't know what that means. Interesting. All right. Well, you have good instincts, so I'm excited to see what comes to that. Thank you for sharing. Let's go ahead and go to the next clip. Is that okay? Yes. All right, let's do it. Anything else prior to the court imposing sentence? So this is the sentencing. No, you're out here. The sentence will be that Ms. Frankie serve four counts, for one to 15 year sentences based on her convictions for four accounts.

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and the applicable statute. Under the applicable statute, the court finds that it can, that consecutive sentences are appropriate. Ms. Frankie, the last thing I do need to tell you is that you have only 30 days to file or to perfect an appeal of any errors of the court by filing a written notice of appeal with the clerk of the court. If you don't do that within 30 days, you will lose your right to appeal.

You also have the right to the assistance of an attorney on appeal and to have one appointed if you cannot afford to hire your own. Restitution, as agreed by the parties, will remain open for a period of eight months. Any of the parties can bring that matter back before the court within that, that period of time. Anything else? No, you're on, your honor.

Thank you. All right. So that's the sentencing. The next matter before the court is state of Utah versus Hill. So that's basically the sentencing. She got minimum of four years. Do you know, can you tell us really quickly you may have, touched on this, how is the final sentencing going to happen, how it will be arrived at exactly

what the minimum sentencing is? Yeah, it's a great question. I actually had a defense attorney on my channel earlier today to help explain that to me because even I was confused and needed a legal expert. But it sounds like what's going to happen is it will be decided through the board of pardons. It's interesting that they were sentenced and the major thing we learned today, essentially that it's going to be consecutive, but as far as, which is good, which is good, but as far as how long they will each serve, will still, will not be up to the judge, but will be up to the board. And they will decide, and I think they will look at all mitigating factors, including what the judge laid out that, well, we'll get to that. That's a

Jody thing. But in other words, they'll look at how risk factors and they'll look at how, I think they'll definitely look at Ruby's remorse or her act of remorse, to be whatever it is, to give everyone a voice here. And they will decide what she will serve, but it will be at least four years. Technically, it might have been parole today, but it's not going to be. It's going to be four years at least.

So the next part we're going to play is kind of the same thing we just saw. Ruby leaves the courtroom. Jody Hildebrand enters the courtroom. I've abbreviated some of it. There's going to be a part where the judge reads how the kids were abused again. I cut off a good chunk of that that's repetitive, but I kept the ending because he says some things towards the end of the description, not the judge, but the prosecuting attorney that I think is relevant.

So let's go ahead and jump to the Jody Hildebrandt sentencing. They were forced to do manual labor outdoors in the extreme summer heat, often without show. So this is Jody. And they were also forced to stand outside on a cement patio in the summer heat for hours and even days. They were beaten. And the 12-year-old was regularly bound hand-in-foot after he attempted to run away in mid-July. Both children had extensive physical injuries from the abuse that required hospitalization to treat. The injuries from the binding are particularly bad.

In addition to the physical abuse, the children were emotionally abused. They each believed to some degree that they deserved what was being done to them. Had the older of the two children not had the courage to run away and asking a neighbor to call the police, heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived. After being caught, Ms. Hilda Brandt has shown little to no remorse for her actions. In telephone conversations that will be provided in full to the Board of Pardons and Parole, in which she knew to be recorded, she's repeatedly claimed that she is the victim

and the children of the perpetrators. She's gone so far as to say that the things said in this proceeding and covered by the media today will be full of lies. The combination of three factors make Ms. Hildebrand a significant threat to the community. First, the severity of the abuse she caused to be inflicted on young children.

Second, her attitude, that everything she did was justified and that she is being wrongfully imprisoned. And third, her training is a therapist and aptitude for using online resources to convince others to follow her guidance. Utah Code Section 76-4-01 lays out three factors that court she consider in determining whether to impose concurrent or consecutive sentences. The first is the gravity and circumstances of the offense. The second is the number of victims. And the third is a history, character, and rehabilitative need of the defendant. has agreed to in the plea agreement and is recommended by adult probation and parole.

Consecutive sentences are appropriate here. This is due to the severity of the abuse to the two victims and the extreme need for Ms. Hilda Grant to be rehabilitated so that she no longer will present a risk to the community. The state respectfully requests that she be sentenced to four consecutive terms. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Mr. Terry. Thank you, Your Honor. As is always the case in cases that come before courts, there are two sides to every case.

And even in a case like this, that remains a case. There are many, many allegations regarding these two individuals, Ms. Frankie and my client, Ms. Hildebrand. The only facts in this case that are adjudicated facts are those set forth in the, that she entered into freely and knowingly and voluntarily. Those facts, those adjudicated facts are significant. They certainly provide a basis for the pleas and provide a basis for the stipulated sentence in this case. My experience with Ms. Hildebrand is that she is not the person that she has been portrayed to be. But having said that, she has accepted responsibility in this case.

She has entered into this plea agreement with a stipulated sentence of four consecutive sentences. She did that at the time she entered into the plea agreement knowing that that would be the court's order. She was before the court today knowing that that would be the court's order and she fully accepts that. She accepts responsibility and she accepts the consequences for her conduct. We will submit it to the court on the stipulated agreement. Mr. Terry, you suggested that there are two sides to every case. I generally agree with you. Ms. Hildebrand didn't make a statement to AP&P

in the course of the pre-sentence investigation report. Correct. Why did she not make a statement? She wanted to reserve her right to make a statement before the court today, and she has a brief statement that she wants to read. Okay. All right.

Ms. Hilda Brand. I sincerely love these children. I desire for them to heal. and emotionally. One of the reasons I did not go to trial, so I did not want them to emotionally relive the experience which would have been detrimental to them. My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward

to have beautiful lives. I am willing to submit to what the state feels would be an appropriate amount of time served to make restribution as an outcome. And in answer to your question, Your Honor, I knew that whatever she might say to the author of the pre-sentence report would probably be sound hollow and self-serving, and perhaps it does today. But I know that my client in the statement that she makes to the court today, that that statement is absolutely sincere. Is Hilda Brandt recognized that it's her behavior that caused the harm to the children that she's referred to in her statement?

Your honor, she recognizes that she was along with Miss Frankie, um, that she made decisions with respect to the discipline of those children that were wrong that caused harm to those children. She fully recognizes that and accepts responsibility for that. All right. Anything else? No, you're on. Go, your own.

Okay. All right. That was disturbing. That was the first time I watched that whole clip. Wow. Why don't you go first? But I've got a bunch of stuff. Go ahead.

Yeah, no, this is the part where I give no sympathy, no empathy. She, this is actually the most maddeny thing about today for me was Jody Hilda Brand's statement. She did not say she was sorry. She did not take responsibility. She starts by saying, I love these children deeply. I mean, if the duck thing upset people, this one has me fuming to say that she loves these children. And then she says that she hopes that they heal. And that's it.

And then she says, you know, I wish them the best life. She doesn't say, and by the way, this is my belief system. She doesn't say, and by the way, this is my fault. By the way, I abuse them. She doesn't say she's sorry. Not once. Does she say the words, I'm sorry? If you want to know who Jody Hildebrand is, listen to her statement and you will know, my opinion.

Yeah. She had a blank face. There were like no facial reactions. It looked like she was thinking, but I didn't see any sign of really feeling or of feeling remorse. I just didn't see it. He talked about phone recordings where she said she's the victim, which maps with her affect. during this healing that she said that the children are the perpetrators? How can she say that she loves the children when she's on record calling them the perpetrators

and saying that they're full of lies? Well, it reminds me of people that abuse that say, I do this because I love you. I love you, which is why I'm hurting you. You know, my grandmother was abused and that's what her abuser said, you know. It's just because I love you. I mean, to me, it was, it was sick. She was, she was to say that you love somebody as you hurt them is the cruelest form of abuse, you know. It's just, it's just despicable.

I have no empathy or sympathy for her. Yeah. After seeing that. I'll share just a couple of the comments just to kind of give a sampling of our audience. La Misa Filipino Food Club, right? Similar to Lori DeBell, this woman is violent, dangerous, but more so, because, because she actually believes some of her own BS. So that's a parallel that many people have drawn.

They're likening Jody Hildebrand's response to Lori Vallow, who was more defiant and was justifying that God and Jesus were all okay with the outcomes of those children being murdered. It was just like, hey, I'm good with God. everything happened as it should. And that's almost the vibe that Jody Hildebrandt was giving. Is that projecting too much on a Jody? I don't think it's projecting too much.

I think when you're looking at risk factors, it's equal. They both believe the BS, as Lomisa says. They both believe this. Lori, I feel like, Lori, you just want to like face palm. Like, you can't believe she's saying this stuff and it's horrible and lock her her way forever because she's such a risk factor. She still believes this. And as Judge Boyce said to Lori Valadebao during her sentence,

and you've gone down a religious rabbit hole and you haven't come back up. You're still down there. With Jody, it almost feels like she's more manipulative. Like she believes her own BS, but she's not daring to say it. She's just trying to say, I love these kids. I love them. I wish them a wonderful life. You know, I'm a good person.

And the way I see her face, just, you know, like looking kind of stress and nervous, I almost feel like she is trying to put that victim face on like, oh, I'm just this afraid child. I don't know what to do. Help me. Sorry, this is me like, I just took off my journalist hat and I'm going, you now full on my opinions on Jody Hildebrand. But this is Lauren, Lauren's opinions.

There you go. No, that's good. I'll add that in addition to her not apologizing and saying she loves the kids, which feels very abusive, it's kind of like they're saying that, you know, that she, she submitted. This is how I interpreted it. She thinks she's innocent, but she, for the sake of the kids, She didn't want to drag the kids through a court.

And so she submitted innocently like a lamb to the slaughter. There's some Mormon overtones to that for the sake of the kids. And then even though she didn't say she was innocent, when asked to give a statement of contrition, she didn't. But then the attorney immediately steps in and calls these things allegations, says there are two sides. says that the only adjudicated facts were in the plea agreement, that Jody is not the person portrayed.

And he's saying she accepts responsibility, but she's not saying she accepts responsibility. Right. It's a big difference to have your attorney say it and you say it. And this is the time she should say it. That's so off. That's so obvious. What is she like, I mean,

I guess she just literally doesn't accept responsibility. but then it's weird that the attorney is saying she does, right? He's being a defense attorney. He knows. He's like, yeah, she didn't reset responsibility. So I'll just say she does, you know. But I think everyone should be true. Because that's his job to lie for his client?

Like, that's weird. I mean, you could, you, you could debate whether or not it's a lie. If he feels that that's her way of saying, saying she takes responsibility, that he's not necessarily lying. But she's clearly not. And I agree. She's going into this like she's a martyr. Oh, I've taken a plea deal so that the kids will not, you know, so they'll be safe.

Right. Martyr is, I do. She's trying to play the martyr. And that's what she's done well her whole life, according to Jesse when you interviewed them. Yeah. Yeah. And then the judge jumps right on it and says, look, she had a chance to make a statement before. Why didn't she make it?

And then the attorney's like, well, she wanted to wait and make it today. and then when she makes it, there's no contrition or anything. She was, she sounded like her voice was a little bit trembling, but certainly not crying and certainly didn't sound remorseful to me. No, I think her trembling voice was to act afraid, like meek, you know, that she's the victim. I mean, that's what they say, that she always wants to be the victim, which, by the way, John, I know you don't cover true crime all the time. let me just tell you this, there's a book called The Sociopath Next Door.

And in that book, Dr. Martha Stout gives a tip to her readers about what to look for when it comes to a sociopath or a psychopath. And she states that it's the pity play. She states that many people want some really vicious sign or some creepy things. She said it's actually a pity play. It's that they are always looking for your sympathy. That's what Dr. Martha Stout states in the same. sociopath next door, someone that's always playing the victim and always wants your sympathy.

And that's all I hear people say about Jody all the time, that she is always the victim. So put two and two together, it's certainly on my mind. Yeah. Yeah. And so I guess the outcome is she gets minimum four years as well. And then it sounds like the actual term, the actual number of years of sentencing. is going to be determined later. Anything else about what went on in the courtroom that you think is worth mentioning? No, I think we've covered the most important parts. I think I wouldn't be

surprised if Jody gets more time than Ruby because of their statements. And also not just what their statements, but also what the judge has stated. He called Jody out for not showing remorse. I can't wait to get these phone calls. By the way, someone asked me about FOIA requests and getting these phone calls. Yeah, we'll be on them. They won't be ready right away, but they certainly will be in about a month and we'll be on it. But these phone calls that in the press conference after, the attorney stated that he had not heard these recorded jail calls that the judge brought up that said that even when Jody knew she was being recorded on phone calls, she did not show remorse or take responsibility for what she had done. And that makes her a risk factor. But it's kind of dumb.

you think she would do the least dumb thing to lead to the shortest sentence. And as calculating and is insincere and is whatever you can say about her, she's not acting in the smartest way for her own self-interest. And I mean Jody Hildebrandt, right? No, it will show you, it shows you that clearly she's in distortion. For her own benefit. Her own benefit. Distortion to Jody can mean shame. And I think she just cannot admit that she's ever done anything wrong. And that will be her downfall in the end. And luckily, we found her

kryptonite. She just cannot admit ever that she might be wrong. Yeah. Well, there was a moment after, I always want to make sure victims get represented. And there was a pretty powerful moment after when reporters are on the steps outside the courthouse. And Adam Paul Steed commandeers the mic. I thought we could play a little clip of that. Is that okay? Absolutely. All right.

So love, love and respect, Adam Paul Steed, one of the many victims of Jody Hildebrand. This is what happened. We'll get him back on Mormon stories right now. This was Adam Paul Steed's comments afterwards. Oh, wait a minute. Let me find the right clip. Hopefully this is it. Okay, one more. Here we go. Hi there. Okay, we've got another interview. Do you guys want to know who Jody Hilda brand is? Here, I'll answer your questions. He's her attorney. He can't answer him. My name's Adam Paul Steed. And if you guys want to know who Jody Hilda brand is, I'll answer tons of questions about her. I know my dad, hey dad, come here. Come here. Come here. My dad has a file at home that's probably about 2,500 pages.

of records from court filings and and just huge amount of documentation about Jody Hildebrand that's that we will share with everybody. I want you to know the same court that has ordered us not to share these documents is covering up this racket that Jody Hildebrand had with the Mormon church in the 4th District Utah County Court. She abused my children in the same way, almost, even in a different type of abuse, I think it could be argued worse. And that was 15 years ago. And I fought against Jody Hildebrot with my family and everybody to stop this monster of a lady. And Jody went after me.

She went after me, destroyed my life in the craziest way you could ever think of possible. Like, I was a victim of sexual abuse at Boy Scouts of America, Camp Little Lem High in Idaho. My dad helped us stop her predator. You can watch Rita and the national press and everything. We changed the laws of sexual abuse so victims could come forward. We got rid of the criminal and civil statute of limitations. The Mormon Church knew who we were. And Elder Helm, Richard G. Hillam, was like next, he was the president of the first courtroom of the 70,

the top, probably executive functioning leader of the whole Mormon church. And he sat with Jody Hildebrandt as they destroyed my life in this court racket, like they've destroyed countless other people's lives. And they even had the gall to order my Mormon stories thing where I brought some documentation off the internet saying that they didn't want me to say bad things to my children or in front of the children about my ex-wife. Well, if you're accused of sexual abuse by Jody Hildebrand, and if your ex-wife performed a falsification of sexual abuse, that professionals looked at the documentation and said, this is sexual abuse. This is sexual abuse. We have documentation for sexual abuse of my children by Jody Hilder Brand and my ex-wife. And, you know, this stuff was redacted in the doppel paperwork.

It was so horrible that it was redacted. And the courts just recently said I couldn't talk about my family and my ex-wife or anything. But if you have children, if your children were trained to think that your dad was sexual a predator and a monster. So I'm sorry, we came in a little bit late. Why is it that you wanted to be here? Okay, so there are tons, and it's not Jody Hildebrandt is the tip of the iceberg. The Mormon church was doing this operation where they were using religious beliefs, and they were using ethical therapists to enforce them, and it was an area of exploitation,

and it was a horrific area, it was exploitation because it created horrible divorces. It should have been normal divorces. We're talking about hundreds and thousands of families going through these courts, and Jody was like an icon. her doctor and so here's the problem everybody. Today it sounds like it was a little bit of like justice for you too. Oh, Joe did, yeah, Ruby Frank. When I saw Ruby Frank, I saw my ex-wife sitting there saying the exact same thing.

My ex-wife would have said the exact same thing Ruby Frankie said today. And a lot of other women would have said the same thing. You have no idea how many victims are out there that their minds have been messed up so much with this. The prosecutor said that he said that the children thought it was their fault. All of the adult men think it's their fault. All of the women think it's their fault. I have had countless emails and messages. I'm Adam Paul Steed.

I'm the guy that got Jody's license from Dopple removed. Well, my dad and mom get the credit. But, you know, and they said that the Dopple department said, we have evidence here for criminal charges against Jody. This is 13 years ago. It's identical stuff. So I almost like fell over in the courtroom when I heard Jody say that she loved those children.

Jody doesn't love children. Jody's like Ted Bundy. In fact, one time I was in a, in a, Do you feel that she should have a longer sentence than- Jody, here's the problem. Somebody hits a person and runs. That's like two variables, a car and someone running. They catch them.

Jody's got like 30 very, including a huge issue with the Mormon church racketing. They're all ducking low and covering. In fact, I looked at an email and I can show this to you guys. This is factual evidence where it should have been a neutral person in the courts. Kelly Peterson, the Guardian at Leidem. When they were punishing me in the family custody courts, he said that my act to turn Jody Hildebrand in was an act of vengeance.

And they took my kids away from me. Because I performed an act of vengeance. performed an act of vengeance. That's in the, this court was sitting there completely in bed with Jody. They've done it. I talked to Doug Thayer's daughter. She saw relationships, I mean, these aggressive attorneys working with Jody, Commissioner Patton. These, all these people know about Jody. The BYU Honor Code Office did a, before they kicked me out of school for being a whistleblower and child abuse, I guess. Jody Hildebrandt went there and told them I was the most dangerous man she'd ever met in her lifetime. She, she has a

We have hundreds of pages of this stuff of Jody Hilda Brown working with top church leaders to dispel me. I got kicked out of school in my senior year. This lady, we've got all this documentation of how she talks, how she walks. Now, here's what I do want to say. I don't like Ruby Frankie, but I don't know her. I just think you have to be a selfish person to fall for Jody's stuff. She's got a certain kind of carrot that gets certain kind of people. But Ruby Frankie would have never done any of this stuff,

if Jody Hilda Brandt hadn't been the mastermind and just completely, completely created this. Ruby Frankie's not dangerous in the sense. She's not going to go out and do this to more kids. But Jody Hildebrandt will. When we went to Dopple and we went to Dopple, Dopple ordered her to go through all this ethical stuff. She went through the whole thing with shining colors and she turned around and did the same stuff again. I mean, even when she was teaching us that we were safe to come to her and stuff,

She was abusing children at the same time with one hand and teaching a godliness with another hand. So what's her motivation? Jody Hilda Brandt had a weird relationship with my ex-wife. It was a dual relationship. It was bordering sexual in nature. I mean, she went through different women that made her look powerful and important. My ex-wife's dad was an area 70 in the Mormon church. And Jody Hilda Brandt wanted power and, but I know her instincts, when you're in a pain and suffering, when you talk about something and she finds a way to hurt you, it makes her blush. It makes her feel euphoric. I've seen her act that way and look that way in the worst of circumstances. So I always compare Jody Hildebrand to Ted Bundy because nobody can figure out why a serial killer would kill people. Jody Hildebrandt, she grows on.

off of people's pain and destruction. And when she sat there and said she loved those kids, I almost fell out of my chair. The only thing she'd, her version of loving children is find a way to make them hurt more than anything possible. It's like an energy she feeds off of. Thank you so much, Adam. Dang, Mike dropped.

It's a little traumatic for me, so if I'm monologue, I'm sorry. Does anybody have a question that? Cover a lot, cover a lot. We got a ton of documentation. That fourth district court's got to be ducking their heads right now because I do want to say something. There's countless children out there that have been raised to believe their fathers are predators because of Jody Hildebrand. And the fourth district court and other courts involved don't want to show they made mistakes.

So who's going to help those children? Like who's going to help them? This is a court public opinion. People need to find out the truth to go help all these children and help all these people come forward. And the fact that the court tried to silence me for being on the front edge of coming forward is just an example of how the same notorious people in power back then that allowed Jody to do all this stuff are alive and thriving today. And if you give a damn about our children, you've got to do the same thing I do and fight for what's true. Thank you so much, Adam.

Thank you, Adam. That was Adam Steed. Excuse me, I'm sorry. I was getting it through my IFB hearing myself. That was Adam Steed, who claims to have been a victim of Jody. Hildebrand in a sense comparing her to Ted Bundy. So really, really emotional testimony that we're hearing outside of the courthouse now. Bob, I'll send it back to you right now.

Man, Ted Bundy, like he dropped the mic, calls out the Mormon church, calls out the district court in Utah. He says if you care about kids, you should be listening. Boom. I was like, okay. And I don't think I can get a cease and desist take down letter for that because I'm just playing what was played on national media. So I'm hoping I don't have to take this one down too. I am curious, so I'm grateful that he was willing to call it the Mormon church, the district

court, Jody Hildebrand, call it like he sees it, a victim speaks. I was under the understanding that there was a court order silencing him. So the one thing about that that's really shocking to me is just sort of fear for his safety, knowing that the court has silenced him along with us being silenced to not let him speak. So do you have any thoughts on that? I guess you wouldn't maybe know, Lauren. Well, no. I mean, I just spent an hour with him right before you and I jumped on. So I certainly asked, I think I can say this. He's certainly feeling empowered. I think that much is clear. And I think there's reason that he's starting to feel empowered. And I'll leave it at that. But yes, Adam, I met with me here. Again, I'm in St. George. So he met with me here and we went

live together right before I jumped on here. And while I can't share everything, I can share that he's definitely, I'll just say it one more time, feeling empowered for many reasons. Well, fortunately, you did an interview with Adam Paul Steed, and you didn't receive a take-down cease-and-assist letter. It's an audio-only interview. Is that right? It is, and I think you want to know why, I think, is because throughout our interview, it's a two-part interview, a very long interview on our channel. He kept saying, well, I got to save that for Mormon stories. Oh. I got to save that one for Mormon stories.

So it's not the full story, yeah. He certainly saved some things for Mormon stories. But yes, our interview with him is still up. But he got a lot of that in today. But do check out Hidden True Crime for one audio interview of Adam Paul Steed, along with an extended interview today. You guys can go right there after. Well, Lauren, this has been so great to have you.

We have 4,76 people tuned into this live stream. It's crazy. I want to give you just a chance to give your. final thoughts. Lauren, you're a gift to our community, you and your husband, John, Matthias. We love your coverage. Please everyone subscribe to Lauren and John. Like this episode, share it. Lauren, really quickly, how do people support you and John and your important work? And then please give us any closing thoughts you have. You can support our work at Hidden True Crime. That's our YouTube channel or listening to our podcast as well, Hidden a True Crime podcast. We appreciate

appreciate everyone that follows us and subscribes. I think that we are definitely different than any true crime podcast because we truly try to get to the root or those hidden motives and the hidden reasons behind the crimes. And we dig deep. My husband is a forensic and clinical psychologist. And I was a TV reporter for 10 years before starting this podcast. We're so grateful for you, John. I reached out to John.

I reached out to you today, John, and asked if you would do this live because I feel like when it comes to a crime like this in order to dig deep to get to the root of the issue, this needed Mormon stories. So thank you for always be willing to talk about hard things. We really appreciate Mormon stories, especially as we've covered the Daybell case, Jody Hildebrand, Blaise Tibado, Tim Ballard, and others. Thank you for your safe space and your compassion and your platform that works to help so many. Well, it's completely my honor.

I adore you guys. I think we're all part of an important group of creators trying to bring health. Our goal, within Mormon culture, within broader Christian culture, within American culture, we just want healing and growth. We want the judicial system to do better. We want people of faith to do better. We want the justice system. We just want better.

all around, and I think that's something that we share. Absolutely. I will say, too, I will be on News Nation later tonight on Banfield, talking about the sentencing, and then my husband, John, and I, for our weekly hidden hour, of course, will be covering this Ruby, Frankie, Jody Hildebrandt sentencing today. And so if you want the forensic and clinical psychologist take, join us Saturday night. Come back soon. Sounds good. Thanks, John.

And thanks to everyone for joining us today. Please do subscribe to this channel. Please like it. Please become a monthly donor at mormous stories.org. Click on the donate button. Your donations keep this possible, keep this alive. Please also support hidden true crime. Please leave your comments. Please share this episode wherever you can. And don't be a stranger. We want to thank maven and Julia and herardo and Brooklyn for all they do on the Mormon story staff. And we want to thank all of you our listeners and supporters because we couldn't do this without you. Check back to Mormon Stories for more good stuff in the days, weeks, months ahead. Be good to each other.

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