Law&Crime Sidebar - Ruby Franke’s Business Partner Brutally Abused Own Family Members: Lawsuit

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Starting point is 00:01:19 Now, a new lawsuit against the women lays out some of the most heinous allegations. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. When Jody Hildebrandt and Ruby Frankie were arrested on charges of aggravated child abuse in August of 2023, much of the world was shocked. They were stunned. Ruby had been this big deal on YouTube for years, chronicling her family's life on a channel called 8 passengers. At one point, she had more than 2 million followers. Meanwhile, Jody Hildebrandt, she had launched her own life coaching business called Connections, Social Media Pages, full of Life Advice, But it turns out, though these seemingly virtuous women, they were anything but.

Starting point is 00:02:06 And now we are learning new details about all sorts of alleged conduct. Their arrests came after Ruby's youngest son escaped from Jody's multi-million dollar compound in Ivan's Utah, went to a neighbor's home, asked for someone to call police, he was covered in wounds, He had duct tape on his wrists and his ankles. He was severely emaciated. And police later find his sister in a room inside Jody's home. Also, serious malnutrition and her hair had been cut off. In fact, officers at one point didn't even know that she was a girl.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Now, Jody and Ruby, they entered guilty pleas to four counts of aggravated child abuse each. They were sentenced each to spend four to 30 years in prison for what they did. Now, in Utah, it's up to the parole board to decide when to let them out. not have a definitive answer on when Ruby Frankie or Jody Hildebrandt will step out of prison. But during sentencing, I'll tell you what we did see, Ruby admitted to the abuse, said she was under this dark control of Jody Hildebrand, and then she finally saw the light. I am humbled and willing to serve a prison sentence as long as it takes to continue in raveling all of the misinformation I have believed and bought, swallowed, and acted out.

Starting point is 00:03:24 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 reenter as a contributing member of our beautiful society. Meanwhile, Jody didn't really seem to show that much remorse in her statement to the court. I sincerely love these children. I desire for them to heal physically and emotionally. One of the reasons I did not go to trial, so I did not want them to emotionally relive. I love these children. Always gets me. I love these children. I love these children. Now Ruby and Jody met through connections, this life coaching business that was started by Jody and it offered individual and group counseling.

Starting point is 00:04:17 Ruby at one point sought out Jody to help counsel her eldest son. Chad, who was apparently, according to her, having behavioral issues. From there, Ruby became more and more and more involved in connections, eventually being listed on the website at one point as a mental fitness trainer, offering up her own advice on the connection social media pages. But since their convictions, we have learned more and more about what was allegedly going on behind the scenes, and I'll tell you what, it is disturbing. By the way, talking disturbing stories like this and things that are happening out there,

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Starting point is 00:05:45 We have a Utah man named Michael Tillman. Talked about him a lot on previous sidebars. He has now filed a lawsuit against connections. He names Ruby, he names Jody, he names his ex-wife, all as defendants as well. And he claims this whole thing, this whole business, is a racketeering enterprise, a criminal enterprise that those involved with connections are doing everything they can to lure in vulnerable people with the promise of mental health care. And instead, what they do is they introduce them to more and more extreme ideas and convince them to spend more money through connections. He claims the scheme is still ongoing despite Jody being behind bars.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Now in the lawsuit, Tullman addresses a lot of different aspects of the business. He makes claims, many claims against Ruby and Jody and his ex. We've covered several different angles of this lawsuit here already on sidebar. They're all up on our long crime YouTube page if you want to check it out. part of the civil action also addressed other alleged victims of Jody, and that caught our attention because we've actually met two of those people and spoken with them about their experiences. So one person is Jesse Hildebrand.

Starting point is 00:06:58 This is Jody Hildebrand's niece. They told us about being forced to live with Jody when they were a teenager and the abuse that they suffered. And then there's Adam Steed, who is a former client of Jody Hildebrandt, who says, she violated his privacy by telling officials in the Mormon church about his apparent struggles. And apparently, that breach led to Jody's counseling license being suspended in Utah back in 2012. But that wasn't long because since her arrest and conviction, it's our understanding the state has revoked her license. Now, Adam Steed, if you don't know who he is, he has been vocal for quite some time about his conflicts with Jody Hildebrand.

Starting point is 00:07:37 I don't know if you remember this. He even grabbed the mic from our very own, Long Crimes' very own, Sierra Gillespie, after Jody's sentencing to give his two sense on what was going on. Do you guys want to know who Jody Hildebrand is? Here, I'll answer your questions. He's her attorney. He can't answer him. And I fought against Jody Hildebrat with my family and everybody to stop this monster of a lady. And Jody went after me.

Starting point is 00:08:02 She went after me to destroy 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 a predator. You can watch, read it's in 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 Heelham, Richard G. He was like, next, he was the president of the first quorum of the 70,

Starting point is 00:08:32 the top, probably executive functioning leader of the whole Mormon church. And he sat with Jody Hildebrand 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 Hildebrandt, 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-Brent and my ex-wife.

Starting point is 00:09:14 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. So now going back to Tillman. Tillman talks about both Adam and Jesse in this lawsuit. And I want to start with what he had to say about Jesse, who claims that when they were a teenager, their parents left them at Jody's home to address, again, these alleged behavioral problems.

Starting point is 00:09:38 You're seeing a thorough line here? Quote, upon information and belief shortly after Hildebrand's arrest, Jesse Hildebrandt described to the media the extreme abuse and torture they endured as a minor child 15 years ago at the hands of Hildebrand, which is strikingly similar in nature to the torture of victims 1 and 2. Victims 1 and 2 are Ruby's youngest children who were abused at the Ivan's home for mother. in the summer of 2023. Tillman continues, upon information and belief, Hildebrand's abuse and torture of Jesse included restraining them with duct tape, blindfolding them, isolating them for up to 12

Starting point is 00:10:15 hours per day, forcing them to sleep outside in the snow, physically pushing them, telling Jesse that it was dangerous for them to speak with other people, telling Jesse that Hildebrand would recruit agents who would report back if Jesse had broken any of Hildebrand's rules. Quote, on one occasion, after an instance in which Jesse, attempted to escape, Hildebrandt pulled Jesse out of bed by the hair, blindfolded them, tied their wrists and legs, and started driving. After arriving at an unknown location, Hildebrand began screaming at Jesse and accusing them of manipulating other people to think that something was wrong. Tlman continues, Hildebrand drove her vehicle into a mountain with

Starting point is 00:10:54 Jesse on the floor of the vehicle and coerced Jesse to run up and down the mountain for six hours. Upon information and belief, Hildebrandt placed individuals at the bottom of the mountain to surveil Jesse to ensure that they did not escape. So that's an allegation that Hildebrandt wasn't working alone. Now, much of Jesse's alleged abuse mirrors what happened years later to the youngest Frankie children because we remember, for example, the 12 and 10 year olds, they were forced to stand outside in the hot summer sun for hours. They were punished if they tried to get a drink of water. And what did Jesse tell us? Jesse, told us that they were forced to sleep outside in the dead of winter in a cheap sleeping bag.

Starting point is 00:11:34 So you're seeing the connections and similarities. Whenever we deal with cases of abuse or alleged abuse, you see a pattern. You see a pattern. Now, Jesse apparently did manage to escape from Jody Hildebrand. And she told us when she came here on Sidebar that they managed to get out of the home and run away, staying at a homeless shelter for a time. And the lawsuit claims that Jody never reported Jesse is missing despite the fact that they were a minor. We spoke with Jesse after Jody's guilty plea at the beginning of 2024. It's been it's been quite a journey on my end of processing and reprocessing everything that's been going on. The day that it happened, I was surprisingly really angry. I didn't expect to feel so much anger kind of come up in that

Starting point is 00:12:26 experience. I think part of it was when her lawyer came out and gave just the most ridiculous comment to the press about how Jody is just, she pled guilty because she's just trying to, you know, take accountability for her actions and she just really cares about the kids healing and all of this garbage, just complete trash. That was pretty enraging. I mean, I can't imagine actually changing anyone's mind or convincing anyone of like it's so obviously a manipulation tactic to save face

Starting point is 00:13:03 but that was pretty enraging and then slowly throughout the day a lot of this weight just like slowly kind of lifted off my shoulders and a lot of this subconscious fear that somehow she was going to be able to kind of wiggle her way out of any

Starting point is 00:13:21 accountability slowly lifted like it's like You don't get accused and convicted of child torture and then suddenly are like, oh, I just really care about these children's healing. Like, that's not what happens. Yeah. You don't go 15 years of having this be a pattern and then suddenly be like, I just really care

Starting point is 00:13:43 about these children. That's not possible. Now, Jesse said they wouldn't be at the sentencing because of travel plans like actually living in Germany. That's now according to their Instagram. But they do plan to travel back to Utah to be there for any of Jody's parole hearings. I won't be there for her sentencing simply because of just the timing of it. I'll be in Europe.

Starting point is 00:14:06 I would have liked to be there for the sentencings. I will be there for the parole hearing, most likely. That's, I think, where a lot of victims, like that's the important time for victims to come forward and to convince the board that she doesn't deserve. serve any sort of parole. Now let's talk about Adam Steed, because meantime, Adam Steed was instrumental in getting Jody's license suspended for 18 months back in 2012. Now, Steed was a recently married man with one child and another on the way.

Starting point is 00:14:37 He was attending BYU, Brigham Young University, and Provo. He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He says his bishop recommended he go to marriage counseling with his wife. And here's some of what Adam Steed had to say on sidebar last year. You know, I will tell you a story that Jody Hildebrandt's more sophisticated than a normal person in a lot of ways. She evolved into what she became. You know, she works, she would put us in a phase one. There's phase two and phase three of the particular group she was in at the point.

Starting point is 00:15:18 And phase one, she didn't, it wasn't very intense. It was lighthearted and fun. And, you know, think of like a PG movie or something and a lady that's just charismatic and fun and teaching these principles about delusion, denial, and all this kind of stuff, co-dependency, using small examples in people's lives where they didn't realize they were in the state

Starting point is 00:15:41 and the whole room laughing about it. That was phase one, and it was, you know, couples, all happy couples thinking there was this incredible lady. You know, when she separated the couples into all women and all men groups, then after she gained everyone's trust, then really bad things began to happen. What's different in my case is that when I... chose to leave this, like, cult-like group. Jody tried to punish me.

Starting point is 00:16:33 And she worked through BYU Honor Code Office and legal measures to try to hurt me. And I have the emails between my ex-wife and her planning out all this stuff, talking about what the real issues in our marriage were. And then them evolving that into something drastically different with allegations so it would totally destroy your life. And how that evolution happened from what they originally were like is just astounding. I had to come forward because when I heard that they were doing the same thing to those little kids that they did to me to hide their crimes, it was totally predictable. And I knew my records would just completely show the world. truths of how dangerous this lady really is and and clients that are close to her that are

Starting point is 00:17:31 probably not really good people in the first place but that she enhances their abilities under her under her guidance to do incredibly criminal things going back to Tillman's lawsuit it says quote upon information and belief steed and his now ex-wife saw held a brand for counseling services through connections for nine months in 2008. Steed's experience is yet another example of the enterprise's fraudulent and unlawful scheme involving the provision of fraudulent services through connections. Steed said, we came there for marriage counseling, and she pulled us into her porn marathon. Upon information and belief, instead of providing legitimate counseling services,

Starting point is 00:18:12 Hildebrandt immediately diagnosed Steed with a sex and pornography addiction, even after Stede stated he didn't have issues with either. Hildebrandt also insisted that the Steeds needed to triple down on the amount of therapy sessions they were purchasing through connections for the financial gain of the enterprise. Steed indicated Hildebrand's charges were as high as $2,000 a month. After Steed refused, Hilderbrandt provided false accounts of Steed's confidential counseling information without his permission to leaders in the church, to honor code officials at the university he was attending, and to two other therapists. Hildebrand's actions towards Steed were typical of the enterprise's strategy to keep individuals within the enterprise. Hildebrandt and other members of the enterprise would coordinate with a victim's spouse, often also a member of the enterprise, to disseminate false allegations and information about a victim's mental health diagnosis, to embarrass, harass, and subsequently coerce victims to stay within the enterprise for fear of facing additional public shaming. Okay, first, wow.

Starting point is 00:19:11 second of all, these are allegations. So these are Tillman's accounts, these are Steed's accounts, these are allegations, and also to be clear, neither Jody Hildebrandt nor Ruby Frankie, nor anybody else connected to connections or a part of connections has been criminally charged in connection with any of these allegations. Just have to put that on the table. But to be clear about what we're saying here, according to this lawsuit, because Adam Steed didn't want to keep pouring money into connections, Jody retaliated. And she allegedly set out to ruin in Adam Steed's life. Tillman claims, quote,

Starting point is 00:19:44 when Steed refused to continue paying Hildebrandt exorbitant services fees through connections for the benefit of the enterprise and to treat non-existent mental health issues, Hildobrand conspired with Steed's now ex-wife to falsely accuse him of sexually abusing their small child. Hildebrandt instructed Steed's ex-wife to send an email with a list of demands of what Stede had to do to avoid divorce, which included remaining in the enterprise,

Starting point is 00:20:08 paying the enterprise thousands of dollars per month for fraudulent unnecessary services and a requirement that Steed could not see other therapists. As a result of Hildebrand's false claims to these organizations and his ex-wife, Steed lost church privileges, was temporarily suspended from his university, and suffered a divorce. Steed stated, my family got destroyed, my life got destroyed. But it didn't end there because according to Tillman, Jody also tried to restrict Steed's access to his own children. Something, that Tillman says Jody did to many men, including himself and Kevin Frankie, Ruby is now ex-husband. The lawsuit states, Steed reported that once Hildebrand began meeting with his now

Starting point is 00:20:49 ex-wife, Hildebrandt made her falsely believe that she needed to protect the children from him. In her stipulation with DOPL, Utah Division of Professional Licensing, Hildebrandt admitted that her disclosure of Adam Steed's confidential information was detrimental to Adam Steed and not in his best interest. Hildebrandt also admitted that her conduct was unprofessional, as defined by Utah law and violated her ethical responsibilities. Now, to be clear, while neither Adam nor Jesse are named as plaintiffs in this case, they could be called as material witnesses to testify about what the alleged abuse they suffered was in an upcoming trial.

Starting point is 00:21:25 If this goes to trial, they could also provide a timeline for the connections brand and how it was allegedly used to manipulate people so they could be key witnesses. Tillman is demanding at least $5 million in damages, and not only does he claim, that Jody destroyed his life, but he alleges that connections alleged racketeering scheme has continued even while she's behind bars. According to Tillman, his ex-wife is still a rabid supporter of Jody's and continues to use Jody's apparent barbaric parenting tactics on Tillman's 10-year-old daughter. So this lawsuit is now working its way through the federal court system in Utah. The most recent action taken is that all the defendants were served a summons informing them

Starting point is 00:22:05 that they were involved in a lawsuit. These summons papers were sent to Ruby, Jody, Connections. They were all served to the Utah State Correctional Facility, and we will keep a very careful eye on how this case progresses. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. Check us out on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber.

Starting point is 00:22:28 I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - Ruby Franke’s Business Partner Brutally Abused Own Family Members: Lawsuit

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