Law&Crime Sidebar - 8 Disturbing Details in Ruby Franke's Guilty Plea Agreement

Episode Date: December 19, 2023

Former YouTube “momfluencer” Ruby Franke was in a Utah courtroom Monday, agreeing to plead guilty to four counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse. As part of the plea, she is required to testify against her co-defendant and business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who is due in court next week. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber takes a deep dive into what happened to Franke’s two youngest children inside Hildebrandt’s home.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty. Ruby Frankie has pled guilty in court to the abuse of her own children. Her plea agreement goes into detail about what she did to her kids and it is horrifying. Also, what does this mean for a potential sentence? We break it all down for you now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Ruby Frankie has officially pled guilty. This is a major development in a case that we have been following since August, this case out of Utah. Ruby

Frankie has pled guilty. Now, Ruby Frankie is the former Utah. who alongside her husband, Kevin, created a now defunct channel on the platform called Eight Passengers. This was a very popular channel. It documented the lives of the couple along with their six children. It had over two million subscribers, but it didn't come without controversy. No, viewers took major issues with how Ruby was parenting, or maybe I should say, disciplining her kids. So in our house, when we take something away, it's because they have shown that they are not. responsible enough to manage it.

And so we don't just turn around and give a bag as soon as they start acting good. It has to be consistent. It has to be consistent over a minimum, minimum of six months. I know that her teacher is uncomfortable with her being hungry and not having a lunch and it would ease her discomfort if I came to the school with lunch. But I responded and just said,

just said, Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning, and she actually told me she did pack a lunch. So the natural outcome is she's just going to need to be hungry. Now, at one point, Ruby ended up partnering up with a woman named Jody Hildebrand, who was offering these life coaching services through an organization known as Connections. In fact, Ruby was listed as a certified mental fitness trainer on the Connections website. But in August, she and Hildebrand were each arrested and each charge with six counts of aggravated child abuse of Frankie's two young children who were staying at Hilda Brant's place. Her 12-year-old son managed to escape Hildebrand's home, ran to a neighbor who called 911.

911, the address of your emergency. I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here at my front door asking for help. We know there's been problems at this neighbor's house. He's emaciated. He's got tape around his legs. He's hungry and he's thirsty. Now, the boy was reportedly emaciated with wounds, and there was evidence that he'd been tied up. His then 9-year-old sister, we believe that she's 10 now, her Ruby's daughter, was reportedly found in the house in similar conditions.

She was taken to the hospital to be treated for malnourishment. Ruby, Jody, they were each arrested. They were charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. Our understanding that each count could be a max of 50. 15 years in prison. And by the way, Kevin ended up filing for divorce from Ruby. And according to his lawyer, he had been living separately from her for over a year before her arrest.

Okay, so then right before the weekend started, we learned from Frankie's law firm, Widward Law, that Ruby was going to enter a plea on Monday, December 18th. There were apparently negotiations happening behind the scenes with the prosecutor's office. There was supposed to be a waiver hearing on December 18th. We had speculated, well, what could this be? A waiver hearing, of course, is where a defendant in U.S. Utah can waive a preliminary hearing, a hearing where the prosecutor will present all their

evidence to a judge to determine if there's enough evidence to go forward. A number of reasons why you'd want a waiver hearing, one of them is if you end up entering into a plea and you no longer need a trial. And what was particularly interesting in the statement that was released by her law firm in anticipation of this plea deal was who she was blaming. I'm going to highlight one interesting part. She says, quote, Ruby Frankie is a devoted mother and is also a woman committed to constant improvement. Initially, Ms. Frankie believed that Jody Hildebrand had the insight to offer a path

to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous. Over an extended period, Ms. Hildebrandt systematically isolated Ruby Frankie from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Frankie. This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Frankie being subjected to a distorted sense of morality shaped by Ms. Hildebrandt's influence. So really putting the blame in a way on Jody. Very, very interesting. Now, with all that in mind, let's get into what happened. Ruby Frankie officially pled guilty in the 5th District Court in Washington County, Utah, in front of Judge John J. Walton.

She pled guilty to four of the six charges, four counts of aggravated child abuse, each one, a second-degree felony. Ms. Frankie, how do you plead to count one, aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony? Guilty. To count three aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony. Guilty. To count five, aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony. Guilty. And to count six, aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony.

With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children. Guilty. Now, two of the charges were dropped, counts two and four in the original information. Remember, I said she was originally charged with six counts. Well, two were dropped. And these counts were about abuse of both of the kids where the physical injuries resulted in starvation or failure to thrive or malnutrition that jeopardized the child's life. I wonder if since this was a plea deal, the prosecution just agreed to drop something. And maybe these two charges were duplicative of the other counts. It doesn't seem to me that they were tough to prove, as you will see in a minute. But either way, what Frankie pled guilty to is incredibly serious, as you're about to hear.

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We have a copy. And what I'm about to read to you is what, Frankie is agreeing she did. Remember that. She is admitting to these crimes. Okay, so it starts from approximately May 22nd, 2023 until August 30th, 2023. So now we have a date range, three months of this abuse. In Washington County, Utah, the defendant, Ruby Frankie, intentionally or knowingly, inflicted, and allowed another adult to inflict serious physical injuries upon her children. There were ages 9, E.F, and 11 to 12, RF, as more fully described below. So she didn't just do it herself, but she seemingly allowed Jody to do it too. Now, again, it's important when you look

at the ages here, seemingly nine years old for the daughter, 11 to 12 for the son, seems to me like this might have happened before and through his own birthday. Let's get into it. Count one is the longest. And I warn you right now, this is incredibly difficult to hear. And count one is aggravated child abuse of RF, her 11, 12 year old son. And it's about physical injury that includes physical torture. This is what it says. Count one. The defendant's actions involve the physical torture of RF. Initially, RF was forced to do physical tasks for hours and days at a time. These included walsets, carrying boxes full of books up and downstairs, and working outside. Eventually, R.F. was forced to do outside labor without shoes and in the summer heat.

He was forced to stand in the direct sunlight for several days. He was forced to remain outside at all hours of the day and night for extended periods of time. These actions resulted in repeated and serious sunburns with blistered, and the sloughing skin. R.F. was denied adequate water for several of the days he was required to remain in the summer heat, and he was punished when he secretly consumed water. He was denied sufficient food, and when given food, he was given very plain meals, example, rice and chicken, while others in the house ate regular and more flavorful meals. He was isolated from other people and

denied all forms of entertainment, including books, notebooks, and electronics. In addition, after RF attempted to run away in July, his hands and feet were regularly bound. Binding included being tied to the defendant into weights. Many times, the binding included using two sets of handcuffs, one on RF's wrists and one on his ankles. Again, very consistent with what we've heard so far about his injuries. At times, with RF lying on his stomach, ropes were used to tie the two sets of handcuffs together so that his arms and lower legs were lifted off the ground. The bindings resulted in injuries to RF's wrists and ankles where the handcuffs cut through the skin and damaged the muscle tissue. These injuries were

treated with homeopathic remedies and covered with duct tape. That's when we heard about the cayenne pepper being used. Then the bindings were placed on top of the duct tape. As if that wasn't horrifying enough. It goes on to say, again, all part of count one, physical torture. Specific instances of abuse committed by the defendant include one, kicking RF while wearing boots, two, holding his head under water, and three, cutting off oxygen by placing her hands over his mouth and nose. I tell you right now, I'm not going to lie to you, that is actually worse than what I thought we were dealing with. I didn't know. I didn't know. I know any of that. I don't think any of us really knew any of that. You know, it seems to me one of the

reasons the starvation charges were dropped is because it was duplicative of this conduct. You might not have needed that after everything we just heard. And it does make me wonder if that account, everything that we just heard was not only determined from the physical evidence, the physical examinations of the kids, what the kids ended up saying to law enforcement and medical professionals, but maybe Ruby Frankie herself, which she admitted to doing. I mean, again, this is her admitting to what she did personally and what she allowed to happen. We're going to talk about punishment a little later, but just keep all that in mind, that description. And keep in mind, too, when we talk about her putting the blame on Jody.

There's the second count, which actually was count three in the original information document, but this is the second count that she's pleading guilty to. And this count is about aggravated child abuse on RF, her son, but it's about physical injury causing emotional harm. Count two. The actions described above caused severe emotional harm to RF due to the fact that they began in May and escalated through the summer months. Fairly understandable. Additionally, the defendant and another adult, presumably Jody, regularly sought to

indoctrinate RF and convince him that he was evil and possessed, and that he needed to willingly be obedient to avoid punishments, and that the punishments were necessary to repent. He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love. Yeah. That level of manipulation, that again is so consistent with what we've heard about from alleged victims of Jody Hildebrand, including her niece, Jessie, who we interviewed in October. So she strips you of identity. She strips you of credibility and she isolates.

And so she's saying everything that you say is a lie. Everything that you say is manipulation. You're manipulating everyone around you. You're lying and destroying everyone's life. And she would tell me all the time, if you just confess, I will stop. You confess, I will stop, which is torture. Again, it's almost verbatim to what this description was about what these kids had to endure. And I said kids, because now let's move on to the third count.

We talked about the son. Now let's talk about the daughter. So this was the third count that Ruby is pleading guilty to, but this was actually count five in the original information. And this is about the abuse of EF, Ruby's then nine-year-old daughter, and this is injury resulting in emotional harm. Count three. The defendant's actions also cause severe emotional harm to EF. Other than binding and the specific instances of abuse, RF was subjected to, EF was subjected to the same treatment as her brother. She was isolated and forced to do the physical tasks, remain outside, and denied food and water.

She was also repeatedly told she was evil and possessed. The punishments were necessary for her to be obedient and to repent, and these things were being done to her in order to help her. E.F. was convinced that she was evil and needed to go through these things in order to repent. Can we just understand for a minute what these kids psychologically now have to go through, to not accept what happened to them? I mean, that is a clear example of what we've talked about with other victims of abuse that they think they did something wrong.

Think about what these kids went through. Let's go to the fourth count. Again, this is the last count that Ruby Frankie led guilty to. This is actually number six in the original information. And this was about abuse of EF that constituted physical injury that includes multiple injuries. Count four. The defendant's actions caused two or more physical injuries to EF.

She was forced to work outside in the heat barefoot. She was also forced to run barefoot on. dirt roads for an extended period of time. Remember, this was during the summer. EF's feet were repeatedly injured by, and she was repeatedly sunburned. When examined on August 30th, these wounds were apparent by scabs, blisters, and sloughing skin. I don't know if there's even more I have to say here, but so what we have here is repeated physical abuse and injuries, not isolated incidents. They both suffered. They both suffered tremendously. It It is horrifying stuff, which leads me to an important part of this plea agreement document.

So as part of this deal, Ruby Frankie agrees to give up her constitutional rights, the rights to a jury trial, to call witnesses, to testify at her trial, to appeal. But now let's get into the consequences for entering a plea. Now, there's nothing in here that prosecutors and attorneys worked out regarding a determined sentence. It's like, in light of this, you're now going to, we agree to six months in prison now. Instead, let me read this to you. I know the maximum sentence that may be imposed for each crime to which I am pleading guilty.

I know that by pleading guilty to a crime that carries a mandatory penalty, I will be subjecting myself to serving a mandatory penalty for that crime. I know my sentence may include a prison term, fine, or both. I know that in addition to a 90% surcharge will be imposed. I also know that I may be ordered to make restitution to any victim, victims of my crimes, including any restitution that may be owed on charges that are dismissed as part of a plea agreement. I know that if there is more than one crime involved, the sentences may be imposed one after

another consecutively, or they may run at the same time concurrently. So, it is up to the judge to determine what the sentence will be. And theoretically, it could be the maximum of 15 years in prison on each to run consecutive. consecutively, one after the other. Now, I don't think that's going to happen, but in light of what she pled guilty to and what she admitted, my opinion, there is no way. She isn't getting prison time in my mind. No way. This is horrific conduct. And as much as she puts the blame on Jody, she admitted to directly engaging in this behavior and allowing this to happen to her kids. And for a prolonged period of time, three months in the hot summer. In fact, let me add this too. It says

in this agreement, quote, the defendant agrees to serve a prison term and the sentences for each count are to be served consecutive to each other. It seems to me that is something we may see. So even if it is one year in prison, that's a minimum of four years in prison. Theoretically, that's what we could be looking at. She could be looking at more. I'm just reading the tea leaves from this agreement. We will wait to see what happens. But I do want to move on to another big point in this plea agreement. The defendant agrees to testify truthfully against Jody Hildebrand. And in return, the Washington County Attorney's Office agrees to remain neutral regarding

future hearings before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. So, in other words, she will be a state's witness. She will testify against Jody Hildebrand in exchange that the prosecution will not seek to keep her in prison at a later parole hearing. that's what we were expecting to hear. That is a very, very big deal because you would want to give Ruby Frankie a plea deal.

And I imagine that's maybe why they dropped two of these counts. You want her to be the state star witness against her co-defendant Jody Hildebrand. So you dropped two charges, maybe secure some sort of lenient sentence. That puts pressure on Jody, though, to maybe take a deal too. Having Ruby testify against you is not great.

And it also seems that you would want Ruby to testify so as maybe to not have the kids be forced to testify about what they endured, you always want to avoid minor witnesses testifying if you can. That is extremely painful for them. And from a credibility point of view, those who suffer abuse at such a young age, it can make it very difficult to remember certain details. So having Ruby be your star witness makes sense. Now, I will say, could this help Jody Hildebrand? Will she want to fight this? could she say hey ruby just admitted to everything she did i had no part in this it's going to be very very hard to argue that given what we have just read and the evidence in this case so far

but something to think about now there's a part that ruby can withdraw the plea before the sentence her sentencing is set for february 20th we will make sure to cover that here on sidebar but as for jody hildebrandt she has a waiver hearing scheduled for december 27th will she plead guilty? Will that hearing be delayed? Will she merely waive her right to a preliminary hearing? You shall see. The game has changed, though, now that Ruby did this. And by the way, here is the prosecutor, Eric Clark, after the hearing, where they held a presser talking about this. This morning, Ruby Franklin pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. She will remain incarcerated awaiting sentencing, which will occur, and the date was February 20th, I believe.

We are pleased that Mrs. Frankie has accepted responsibility for criminal actions and that justice is being served to the extent possible in this type of a situation. We're grateful for the law enforcement officers, caseworkers, children's justice center staff, and others that have been instrumental in the fair and speedy resolution of this case. Because the alleged facts of the ongoing case involving Jody Hildebrand are intertwined with this case, our office will not be making additional statements to the media at this time. Definitely a win for the prosecution. And there you have it. Ruby Frankie has pled guilty. She will be sentenced and we will see what happens next with Jody Hildebrand. That is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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