Law&Crime Sidebar - Top 3 Moments from YouTube Mom Ruby Franke’s Child Custody Hearing

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

YouTube mom Ruby Franke appeared virtually in juvenile court on Monday for a hearing concerning the custody of four of her underage children. The 41-year-old stands accused of abusing two of her children after her 12-year-old son escaped from the home of her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, where he was allegedly tied up with duct tape alongside his sister and starved. The Law&Crime Network’s Angenette Levy breaks down the top three moments from Franke’s child custody hearing with Amanda Gilbert, a journalist for KUTV in Utah.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Go to www.hellofresh.com/50sidebar and use code 50sidebar for 50% off plus free shipping!LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergScript Writing - Savannah WilliamsonVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&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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that 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. Anytime you go into battle, you need to know the enemy. Ruby Frankie, the Utah YouTuber back in court for a hearing over custody of her minor children. We talk with a reporter who was in court about the top three revelations from that hearing. Welcome to Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. I'm Antoinette Levy. Ruby Frankie was expected in court Monday for a hearing where she planned to ask a judge to release her on bail. That hearing was continued because her lawyer said there's simply too much information to review in the case.

Frankie and her business partner Jody Hilda Brandt remained in jail held without bail on felony child abuse charges involving Frankie's children. Another hearing was held to discuss custody of Frankie's minor children. Her husband Kevin wants his children back. They're in state custody. The Frankie's oldest daughter, Sherry, was also in court. Joining me to discuss the very latest on Ruby Frankie's children is somebody who's covering this case and she's been on sidebar with us before. Her name is Amanda Gilbert. She's a reporter at KUTV in Salt Lake City. Amanda, welcome back to Sidebar. Thank you for having me back.

Thanks for coming back. Six children. There are six children involved in this case. And Kevin Frankie, Ruby Frankie's husband, was in court today with his lawyer. So bring us up to speed on the very latest. What happened in court? Yes, and Ruby Frankie was there as well, but she attended virtually. So today was a child welfare hearing in Provo, Utah, which is about five hours. hours away from the jail that will be Frankie is in. And the judge asked that today focus on one scheduling to the discussion of whether or not this child welfare case be closed to the public or not. So those were the two key things we heard about. The child welfare hearing started at

830 this morning. So what happened with regard to, first of all, keeping the hearing open or closing it to the public? You had told me before we started. that the attorney for the children wants the hearing closed, but the judge may not be willing to do that. Yes. So cameras were not allowed in the courtroom for this. It's a juvenile court. And most of what we did hear, though, I was inside is the children's attorney spoke about how this case has not been adjudicated. Yet she said, quote, being tried on the royal stage already. She talked about how this. Child Welfare case specifically involves a lot of sensitive materials related to children. So for that reason, she believes this case should be close to the public, which would mean essentially none of us would be allowed inside. You know, I was allowed inside today. We didn't,

we weren't allowed to bring in cameras, but I could at least attend and listen. That would not be allowed if this case is closed. And then the judge spoke about how she is aware of the large media interest. She says transparency is important to the courthouse. So the judge said today she would like to continue to look into this discussion and view angles from all sides. Another key thing to note is Ruby Frankie's eldest daughter, Sherry Frankie was in attendance today. And the judge asked Sherry to please either file a motion related to this or share her opinion down the road essentially on whether or not to close this case to the public, because if this case is closed, there's a chance that the eldest daughter, Sherry, would not

be able to attend as well. So it comes down to, you know, can Sherry get an exception? Does Sherry think more about if she can attend for her siblings or more about protecting the privacy of her siblings? So we did not hear from her today, but that was of note. The work week can be really stressful and deciding what to eat can just add to it. HelloFresh can take the stress out of planning and cooking meals for you. HelloFresh delivers meal kits straight to your front door. It's 25% cheaper than takeout and much healthier. Here's how it works.

Choose your recipes online and you'll get fresh pre-portioned ingredients that will help you cook quickly. There are dozens of recipes to choose from so if you have picky eaters, there's no problem. The cook time is quick, too. It's just 15 minutes. If your family is anything like mine, they're probably always hungry, so you can add snacks, sides, and even more to your order. I've tried HelloFresh, and it really takes the stress out of dinner time. You can try HelloFresh and get a discount, so who doesn't like a discount? Go to hellofresh.com slash 50 sidebar and use code 50 sidebar for 50% off plus free shipping. HelloFresh is America's number one meal kit. Sherry is in college. She's an adult. So was she there in person or did she also attend

virtually? She was there in person with her attorney. Is she there because obviously these are her siblings and she has an interest in what is going to happen with them? Yes, yes. Well, we did we did talk to her today. She said no, her attorney said no comments, but that is what we would assume. The attorney for the other children was also there. What did the attorney for Kevin Frankie say? Because obviously these children are not in Kevin Frankie's custody right now. They're in some type of protective custody, right? Yes, they are. And DCFS was there today. We did speak with for the first time the dad, Kevin Frankie's attorney, Randy Kester afterward. He essentially said, quote that they're focused on trying to heal the family. And he said, get the children back

to living with a family member because he said that's in their best interest. And he, of course, said that they're working towards getting the children back to live with the dad, Kevin Frankie. Did Sherry Frankie's attorney have anything to say about that in court? Because, you know, there are some allegations here being made by Ruby Frankie's sisters that Kevin is partially responsible for all of this. Yes. Sherry Frankie, no, they did not comment about that at all. And just for a timeline, too, we gathered a better timeline.

Randy Kester, Kevin's attorney said today that Kevin and Ruby separated 14 months ago. so aware of kind of when they were no longer living together. The last time that Ruby Frankie was in court for this, and it was a virtual appearance at that time, too, since she's being held in jail so many hours away, she claimed that one of her children had sexually assaulted, molested other siblings, and then other children in the neighborhood.

and she had this tearful reaction from what we read in the Daily Mail. Was there any discussion about that claim today? That was not discussed in court at all. In fact, the judge asked that discussion only beyond scheduling and on whether or not to close this case to the public. I did ask Kevin Frankie's attorney about what you just mentioned, and he said basically no comment and that he does not believe those details should be disclosed to the public. So he didn't deny that it happened, but it's just saying he won't address it?

Yes. So where do we go from here, since this was both about scheduling and about the potential for closing this hearing to the public? The next steps, there will be a pretrial. they set a pre-trial date regarding the child welfare case for, I believe it is October 17th. And the judge asked that both parents be there in attendance in person. So there was discussion of transporting Ruby Frankie to Provo from where she's at now, which would be about a five-hour drive. So that was set. There was also a mediation date set beforehand before that pretrial for this case. So Kevin Frankie, showing

up and he's saying, I want my children back. Yes. Yes. He did not speak any word in court today. Neither did Ruby Frankie. But his attorney did say that is what they're working on. Since the last time you and I spoke, has there been any other information you've learned about the family or about this case? Or have you talked to anybody who, you know, has told you, yes, we were indeed concerned because we've heard that so many times that people are saying anonymously that they were concerned. There was this social media campaign, the cancel Utah vlogger thing to really bring attention to the way the children were being treated. Have you learned any more about that? I would say we're hearing

two different things. I was in Ivans, which is where Jody Hilda Brandt's houses. And, The neighbors down there seemed either older or from out of state, so they weren't as aware of the YouTube channel and what has been seen on that YouTube channel. Their perspective was more, you know, this is a quiet neighborhood. We didn't know Jody Hildebrandt that well. We honestly didn't even know that there was many children in this neighborhood. It's a very wide spread out private neighborhood in southern Utah. So it just doesn't, you wouldn't assume there'd be a lot of kids' children there. But we are hearing perspective from a different perspective from people that kind of grew up watching the YouTube channel, Eight Passengers, and a lot of them from who we've talked to have mentioned how there were things that were concerning.

They didn't know how concerning, you know, just seeing one video at a time. but there were questionable things that they look back at and say, you know, should we have spoken up, then, you know, it's hard if you're consuming one video on YouTube, you know, versus everything they've done, all their videos, if that makes sense. Well, Amanda, it sounds like this is something that is not going to go away, at least the interest in this case anytime soon. And I think everybody just wants what's best for the children. Any final thoughts from you? Yeah, another, a lot of research I've done since we last talk. I've heard from several victims of Jody Hildebrandt, the business partner of Ruby Frankie, and a lot of these victims are coming forward and sharing their stories.

You know, a lot of it is just that said their story. But one thing we are hearing over and over again is that, sorry, can I, what I'm reading saying that we've been interviewing a lot of former clients of Jody Hildebrandt, and one thing we're hearing over and over again from these former clients is that Hilda Brandt had a form of therapy where she would want the relationship. She did a lot of marriage counseling to die first. That is something she taught a lot. And another thing a lot of these former clients are talking about is how Hilda Brantz wouldn't talk to people about, would sometimes make people believe they deserved what was happening to them. So again, these are all from their perspective, but that is something

we're hearing a lot about, which seems to be a reoccurring theme, especially with the Daily Mail article you mentioned, this theme of having people believe that they deserve what has happened. Amanda, there's been a lot said about Jody Hilda Brandt being a counselor and the fact that she's been a licensed counselor for many, many years. And you actually had the opportunity to meet someone who had a really negative interaction with her. So tell us a little bit about that. Yes, his name is Adam Steed, and he is coming forward with his story. Basically, many years ago, he was newly married, had one child, another on the way. was a student at Brigham Young University out here.

And it was recommended that he'd go to Jody Hilda Brandt for marriage counseling with his then-wife. And since that counseling, his wife divorced him. He was no longer a student at UYU and Jody Hilda Brand's license was suspended for 18 months, according to Doppel, which is the division of, I think, publishing and I'd have to, according to Doppel. Her license was suspended for sharing personal information about Adam to both the LDS Church and BYU University. And that's a big no-no. When you tell a therapist something, it's supposed to stay between the two of you.

Yes. There are, you know, unless it involves, you know, things like murder or child abuse. Crime or something like that. There are exceptions, but generally speaking. Well, Amanda, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. And we hope to have you back when you learn some more information. Have a good rest of your day.

That's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast. You can listen to and download Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. And of course, you can always watch it on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. Just remember to hit the subscribe button. I'm In Jeanette Levy, and we will see you next time. binge all episodes of this long crime series. Add free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.