Law&Crime Sidebar - Ruby Franke’s Sisters Speak Out After Sentencing of Convicted Child Abuser

Episode Date: March 2, 2024

Ruby Franke, the once prominent YouTube vlogger offering parenting and childcare advice, will spend at least the next several years in prison after she was convicted of horrific abuse against her own kids. Members of the Utah mother’s family are now opening up about the case. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber spoke with KUTV reporter Brian Schnee about her family members’ reactions.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo 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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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. My siblings and their spouses because of my decision to roll around in a pig style, I've drug your families through the mud. As we're all still reeling from the sentencing of Ruby, Frankie, and Jody Hildebrand for abusing two of Frankie's young children, we are hearing a new reaction this time from Frankie's sister, and we have an update from Kevin Frankie. KUTV 2 News's Brian Schnee comes back on to discuss. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. So the ripple effects from Ruby Frankie and Jody Hildebrand pleading guilty and being sentenced to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison on aggravated child abuse charges. It keeps on coming. This time from her sister, Ruby Frankie's sister. Now, Frankie, of course, is the former YouTube mommy vlogger who alongside her co-defendant had doled out parenting and relationship advice, only to be arrested in August of 2023 for abusing two of her own children, Frankie's own children. They were staying at Hildebrand's place. And as we have covered here on sidebar, the sentencing for both Frankie and Hildebrandt was dramatic,

Both inside the courtroom? 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 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 the experience which would have been detrimental to them. Adults are supposed to protect children.

Adults with specialized training in particular are supposed to protect children. You didn't do that in this case. In this case, you terrorized children and the results have been tragic. And outside the courthouse. I almost like fell over in the courtroom when I heard Doty's from when I heard Jody say that she loved those children, Jody doesn't love children. Jody's like Ted Bundy.

Is this about the worst child abuse you've seen in your career? Yes, and not just in my career, but in our office's career, in our institutional memory, this is one of the worst child abuse cases we've seen. And now we are talking the reaction, right? So more specifically, the reaction from the family. I want to bring in right now Brian Schnee, anchor reporter for KUTV,

news who's been with us from the beginning of this saga. Brian did incredible reporting for his network and hours during the sentencing and I will say people might say why does Brian look so familiar if it's not just from the Frankie coverage it's because Brian basically covered the Super Bowl as well out in Las Vegas across the country. So that's probably

why you know Brian as well. Brian, good to see you. Thanks for having me. It's been a whirlwind a couple weeks for me personally and professionally, but of course, with sentencing in St. George shortly after the Super Bowl, it was one thing after another. And there were a lot of things in sentencing that we had already known and weren't overly surprising, but now it's up to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to determine how long Ruby, Frankie, and Jody Hilda Brandt will spend behind bars. Yeah, and, you know, as if Brian wasn't busy enough, he was going to actually perform with Usher, but he just had too much on his plate. I hope people know that.

By the way, before we even get into this, I want everybody to know that Brian has not only been incredibly generous with his time here on Sidebar. He actually was on our prime crime episode that we dedicated to Ruby Frankie that's out on YouTube right now. But also, he is on our Ruby Frankie podcast. And that podcast is the number four podcast in the whole country right now. So you can hear Brian Schnee on there as well. Pretty incredible, right? It is. I had seen it at number nine.

So to hear it's number four, it's climbing in those. charts and for good reason because people all over the world jesse have been consuming this coverage whether it's from law and crime network or really just seeing it anywhere now because of the big interest in this case and now i want to move on to to what has happened in the aftermath of the sentencing um and we'll talk a little bit more about the sentencing but i want to talk about bonnie uh frankie's sister so now we know previously that she had spoken out against frankie after Frankie's arrest. I am mad.

I am mad at what has happened. I am beyond disgusted. And I feel like it makes me tremble. And we also heard from Frankie's other sister, Julie Griffith's DeRue. We all saw it. We all felt weird about this Jody lady. We weren't comfortable with it. We didn't like it.

We didn't like the teachings. Ruby was bringing to the family functions and we were this close to telling her if you come to our family events anymore, we do not want to hear what you were learning through connections because we don't like it. But now, Brian, there was this post from Bonnie on her Instagram page. And it appears to be a montage of videos of what appears to be her and her family during a road trip. And the caption reads, quote, world full of distractions and I only have eyes for them.

Satan himself could not come close to making me harm them. What do you make of that? Well, I make a lot from it because we haven't heard from Bonnie or Julie or really the family throughout this, some early posts on social media and a lot of unanswered requests to speak with them on my behalf. To see them coping with this in a way of just family doesn't surprise me because Bonnie hasn't been at any of these hearings. We hadn't seen Bonnie at any of them in the court.

room. So it's nice to know that obviously she's moving forward by trying to seek some family grieving process of what's been really going on. Because as Ruby mentioned in her statement, in licensing, this has really impacted her entire family. She's drugged them through the mud, right? She said that. So I think a lot of them, for this is a sigh of relief, even though feeling a mixed bag of emotions as it pertains to their sister or their daughter in this case for her parents, ruby frankie it's one of the most wild things i've ever seen in a sentencing you have the defendant thanking the police officers who rescued her children thanking the police officer arrest by name and apologizing to every one of her family members because you were there what would you what did you

make of that by the way i was sitting in the courtroom actually they set us up in where the jury would be kind of as an overflow so we were sitting very close to the judge and that gave us a vantage point to look at the reaction to not only ruby speaking in her attorney but to kevin frank to Chatt, to Sherry, to Bo Griffiths, who is Ruby's brother, who was there as well. Also the Santa Clara Ivins Public Safety Department that was there, including that detective, who was named by name. So it was interesting to see kind of the facial reaction. Kevin was most emotional during all of this, putting his hands on his head during part of that and kind of healing over. And we tried to talk to Kevin afterwards, obviously, to get a little

sense of that process of emotion, but he politely declined. It was really wild, because Ruby felt so, so heartfelt during her statement, whereas Jody Hildebrand did not. Now, just going back to these sisters, though, in their first reactions, if you could summarize what that was, what it was their reaction to their sister? Because, again, the theme that you heard from Ruby Frankie

was that she basically isolated herself from her family and loved ones. What did we hear from the sisters originally? Julie and Bonnie initially put out videos on YouTube, as they do, because this is a YouTube family, deeper than just eight passengers in Ruby, Frankie. They mentioned that there was a divide in the family for years. We found that out rather quickly in this process,

is that the family was divided from Ruby for quite some time. So it wasn't surprising to hear them say, we didn't know about this, or we had no idea about the abuse. They basically were questioning how this all happened seemingly under their nose, but then again, removed from this, because they admitted they hadn't had a lot of contact with their sister Ruby since she really got involved with Jody Hildebrand. And that was described in a number of places throughout the last six

months. So they were obviously shocked, taken aback by this, but also mentioned that Ruby's actions don't define them. And a lot of people came to their support, Jesse, in comments on their YouTube platforms, suggesting that they're not the same people. And this was not on the family. And this was strictly isolated between Ruby Frankie, her husband, her children, and Jody Hildebrain. That's why that statement in the post, Satan himself could not come close to making me harm them, is almost saying, this is, I would never do what Ruby did. That's the way that I took it. I'm curious, the way that you interpreted it.

I would think it's more the same as well. Like, hey, how could you ever imagine doing this to your children, even if a higher power or an individual who suggests they have a higher power connection to a God of some sort is telling you to do these things. And it shows just how deep in the weeds Ruby Frankie got with Jody Hildebrand because I think we can all agree, no people in their own right mind of common sense would ever think about doing these things to the children that they've birthed and that they love. And I think that's what we're hearing here from Bonnie, especially with the montage of photos. It was really heartfelt. Bonnie and Julie have been pretty

quiet as it pertains to speaking out on Ruby. They haven't done any real public interviews as we've seen where they actually take questions on this. So they have the creative control to put their message out the way they want. And I think they did it effectively. At least Bonnie did in saying, hey, this is not me. This is not my family. But this is my sister. And I wouldn't think about doing the same things that she did. Now, aside from the emotion, tragedy surrounding the Ruby Frankie case, I think one of the things that has also made it really interesting, is all the legal aspects in terms of how Utah law works and what this means for Ruby Frankie and Jody Hildebrand.

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Brian, have you seen any other reaction or commentary after the sentencing from anybody in the family? Because I've seen Chad Frankie. He posted that video to TikTok with, I think it was his girlfriend, joking almost about his mom being in prison. But then with Shari Frankie, so had there been attempts, I imagine, to get a statement from her because she posted on her Instagram several things I'm going to read. One was a post that said to every reporter and media journalists, leave me the hell alone.

I am not talking to anybody. I can speak for myself when I am ready and don't need you to do it for me. Again, leave me the hell alone. There was another message where she kind of took screenshots of different email requests from different outlets trying to get a statement from her. And then there was another post where it said, crazy how the news gives my family crap for exploiting the kids and then make money off of exploiting my family. Shame on you. Your reaction to that. Yeah, I have plenty to react to. I've

never sent an email or anything like that to Sherry. I think the most I did was try to get in touch with her after her initial Instagram posts. But you realize when someone doesn't want to speak with you, right? I've been in this industry long enough to know that people grieve in their own way. Some people grieved through speaking and getting it off their chest. The majority does not and don't want to be bothered. And since this case involves so much involvement in young children and the trauma that has to deal with young children, we didn't try to reach out to them constantly because what is that going to do? You see what it's done to Sherry because there's so much interest in this from media folks all over the world, Jesse. The last attempt we had was when

they walked out of sentencing. Just called out to Kevin, who was standing in front of me and asked if he would like to share a few thoughts about what happened in there. And he said, no, thank you. Chad was in front of him. Sherry was in front of him. So I personally didn't badger them, nor would I. But I'm not surprised that that's the reaction. Not everyone wants to talk to members of the news, outlets, or the press about their own family stuff because it is deeply rooted in their family. And everyone processes it differently. But I understand why people want to hear from her. I think you would like to hear from her. I would like to talk to her because she's an adult.

She can speak for herself, as she's mentioned. I think it would be just able to put some context into what we don't know about that family dynamic. And I think that would be more of a completion of everybody's coverage on this case, more than anything. And to just put a bow on that, to make it clear, we have not heard from anybody else connected to the Frankie family, connected to either Jody Hildebrandt, or Ruby Frankie in any way post-sentencing. And I agree with you. It's completely understandable in light of what has happened. But just to make it clear, there's no other statements that we've heard.

And same here. It's one of those that you can reach out all you want, but we've done enough coverage. He would like to say something they will, a la Jesse Hildebrand, who has been very outspoken about Jody because of their own turmoil, their own experiences of living with Jody. And then, of course, when all of this breaks open in August, the person who has first and experience with Jody Hildebrand's teachings wants to share their story, just like Adam Steed, who was at the sentencing, took the microphone from you guys at Law and Crime and just went for it and just went for it because there are some deeply rooted things that Adam claims and says he has receipts for that a lot of us still have never uncovered as it pertains to Jody Hildebrand, not Ruby Frankie. Keep in mind, this is about Jody, who Jesse said from the beginning of all of this, in my first conversation with them, Jody is the mastermind behind Ruby Frankie and what has happened. And now there's evidence to prove that and statements to back that up. And kind of got the same feeling from Eric Clark, the prosecutor, kind of got the same feeling from the judge and his words towards Jesse, towards Jody Hildebrand as well.

And, you know, even when Adam Steed took the microphone, for me, it was completely understandable because from his perspective, no one ever listened. No one ever listened to Jesse, no one ever listened to Adam, and this is their opportunity to explain what is going on. Now, before I let you go, there has been a development with respect to Kevin Frankie, Ruby Frankie's a strange husband who has filed for divorce. Walk us through what that development is with Kevin. For months, Kevin has been fighting for change in the state of Utah as it pertains to life coaches or people that fall under that realm. Just this week in the tail end of Utah's legislative session, so keep in mind this has been going on for three, four weeks now, a lawmaker in his district put forth a bill, Senate Bill 251, which is life coaching requirements, and in that committee hearing, Senator David Hinkins reads a six-minute long letter from Kevin Frankie about why this needs to happen, why there needs to be regulation in the industry. We've talked about this before. My colleague, Paul Nelson here at KUTB2 News has done a lot of great reporting on this about furthering the conversations and requirements stemming from what Jody Hilda Brandt has done, not just with Ruby

Frankie, but in the past, a registration of sorts of how these people attain their licenses and a true log of life coaches, because Jesse, you or I could say, hey, I'm going to do this on the side and have no real requirement or oversight from a division of professional licensing here in Utah, which looks into clinical mental health therapists, which ultimately was the reason license was suspended 10 years ago or more because of Adam Paul Steed. So that doppel, Department of Professional Licensing, would have to take on this challenge of now regulating and registering life coaches or mental fitness coaches as Ruby Frankie described herself as on the Connections Classroom website. So Kevin Frankie's trying to fight for change here, so this doesn't happen

anyone else and that is completely understandable because i will tell you one of the things that still stays with me when we were doing the prime crime on ruby frankie is there was a clip that we had we put it in there when it was ruby and jody together and jody says to ruby ruby you want to tell all of our viewers what it means to be a mental fitness trainer which is what ruby frankie was classified as and it was literally the answer was the question it was we are getting you mentally fit and Literally, I could not tell you what the job of a mental fitness trainer was because the definition provided by Ruby Frankie made absolutely no sense. And in my perspective, I'm thinking these are the people that are giving advice to other people. And it just, for me, that was one of the more shocking things that I saw.

And I'm glad we had an opportunity to show that. Well, you make a good point, Jesse, because anybody can come forward and say they can do this. And that is what Kevin Frank to change through legislation and through law. And as we understand it, they may have tabled this bill for further study, as they call it. So we don't think it'll go forward in this session, but how the legislature works, it could be the 11th hour, and this gets pushed through and there are some changes. Obviously, we'll be keeping an eye on this because not only life coaching requirements, but this case could further change how the second degree felony is looked at in the future for an aggravated child abuse charge in Utah, likely next year in the session. and we'll probably see something from this case referencing a ramp up in that charge in the future here in Utah.

Ryan Schnee, thank you so much for coming on. You can check them out at KUTV 2 News and also check them out on the Ruby Frankie podcast that I mentioned. You can check them out on Prime Crime or anytime we have them on here on Sidebar. What a pleasure. Thank you so much, sir. Thanks, Jesse. Well, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

Thank you so much for watching us and joining us as always. please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time.