Law&Crime Sidebar - ‘Weight Lifted’: Jodi Hildebrandt's Niece, Alleged Victim Reacts to Child Abuse Plea

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Jessi Hildebrandt says they were surprised that their aunt, a former Utah mental health counselor and business partner of vlogger Ruby Franke, is actually being held accountable for her actions. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber followed up with Jessi to get their reaction to Jodi’s guilty plea and expected prison sentence, years after Jessi’s own alleged abuse.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: https://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.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller 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. Then Ms. Hilda Brandt, how do you plead to count one aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony? That's me. Business partner and co-defendant of Mom Fluencer Ruby Frankie enters her own guilty plea in a Utah courtroom to heinous child abuse charges, we're breaking down the rise and fall of

Jody Hildebrand. Plus, we sit down with Hildebrand's niece, who has been open about the alleged abuse they suffered at their aunt's hand to get their reaction to Jody's plea agreement and expected prison time. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

54-year-old Jody Nan Hildebrand is preparing to spend years in prison after she admitted to abusing two of her business partner's children inside of her home. That business partner, Ruby Frankie, also entered into her own guilty plea agreement with sentencing now expected in February. We've told you all about Ruby's past in previous sidebar episodes. Now let's do a deep dive into Jody Hildebrand's past because it's important to understand where she came from how she ended up here. So according to her LinkedIn page, Jody Hildebrandt has a Bachelor in Arts in English Language and Literature from

Brigham Young University and a master's degree in education psychology from the University of Utah. Her LinkedIn page says that she served as a program director for Cirque Lodge in the early 2000s. Cirque Lodge is billed as a private luxury rehab for treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. Hildebrandt was first licensed as a clinical mental health counselor in Utah in July of 2005. We believe in 2007, Hildebrandt wrote the curriculum for Connections Classroom, a life coaching program that offered therapy through workbooks, videos, group sessions, and more. Welcome to Connections. I'm Jody Hildebrand. So glad you're with us.

On the Connections website, Hildebrand stated, quote, overall, I desire to help our generation and the generations to come dispose of distortions ugly lies in order to live in truth, connection, and freedom. So when I think about the word hijacked, I think about distortion. I think about the characteristics of distortion. So control is a characteristic of distortion. Engaging in any form of deception. So manipulation, secrecy, hiding, entitlement, aggression, threatening, bullying, blaming.

All of those presentations are all distorted because they all are, have the underpinning of deception. Now on the Connections website, Ruby Frankie, she's listed as a, quote, certified mental fitness trainer, although it's unclear what qualifications, if any, she had for that title. Now, over the last few years, Frankie and Hildebrand have appeared in Connections videos together after Frankie stopped posting to her family's YouTube channel called 8 Passengers, a very popular channel posted over 2 million subscribers. See, she had gotten blowback from viewers and fellow vloggers for her parenting tactics. I've shared with Ruby numerous times that anger is actually one of my most favorite emotion.

When I first started getting to know you, she's like, anger is my favorite emotion. I'm like, I don't know what I'm dealing with here. But in 2012, the Department of Commerce's Division of Occupational and Professional licensing put Hildebrand's license on probation for 18 months for, quote, unprofessional conduct. She was accused of discussing the private sensitive information of a patient with Mormon church leaders, as well as Brigham Young University, without patients' permission. But after that probationary period, her license was reinstated. Now, at last check, Hildebrand's clinical mental health license is still listed as limited active. In September, the Utah Division of Professional Licensing gave it that status so that Hildebrand couldn't practice as a counselor until her legal case had been resolved. By the way, since all of this happened, people have spoken out.

about Hildebrand's counseling, talking about manipulation, coercion, torture. In fact, the attorney for Kevin Frankie, that's Ruby's husband, he spoke to us about what effect Hildebrand had on the Frankie family. But Ruby felt like there were differences in their marriage. And at one point, in conjunction with Jody Hildebrand, it was sort of like we have to separate to save our marriage. You know, we'll keep working on our marriage, but for now, you know, If we're going to repair our marriage and be back together as a family, you have to be a white.

I don't think he's made that parallel. I don't think that he believes that's what led up to this. But what I can say, at least it's my observation that while the family may have had some struggles prior to Jody coming into their lives, it just kind of seems like to me, and this is my personal opinion, that once she got involved in their lives, it just destroyed his family. The focus has been on Kevin. Where was he? Why was he absent?

How does that all happen? So he was doing that at Ruby's direction, who I think was being directed by Jody. This is the way that you've got to repair your marriage and repair your family. So they were all sort of kind of being manipulated. And this is just my opinion by Jody. and I think she knew what she was doing and it was causing significant damage. And so when Kevin's critics are out there saying, you know, where was he, he was acting at the direction of what he thought was a competent mental health care provider and advisor. And to me, the better question is what kind of mental health care provider would advise a family and a husband and wife and a husband and children.

or a father and children, that this can repair your family if you just stay away from each other. And I'm confident that she told that to Ruby. I'm confident that the children were being told that. And Kevin was certainly being told that. I know what I'm doing. You need to stay away. So now the question is, how did Hildebrand come to the attention of law enforcement, right? Well, in August of 2023, a neighbor of Hildebrandt's called police.

Paul police saying that a young boy had shown up at his property looking for help. This kid has obviously been I think he's been he's been detained. He's been he's obviously covered in wounds.

Yeah, Ruby Frankie's youngest son, 12-year-old Russell, had apparently escaped from Jody Hildebrand's home. You 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.

Yeah, when first responders got there, they found Russell, as well as his sister, nine-year-old Eve. They were emaciated and malnourished, so they were rushed to a hospital. It was also evidence that Russell was tied up and sustained injuries from his bindings. Frankie's two middle daughters, they were found at another home in American Fork, Utah, with another member of connections. They, along with the two youngest kids, were taken into state custody. By the way, the oldest children, Sherry and Chad, they're adults now. But both Frankie and Hildebrandt, they were arrested and held without bond. They were each charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse.

In December, we learned that both women had separate waiver hearing scheduled when we might expect plea agreements to be announced. Frankie's hearing was first on December 18th, and she agreed to plead guilty in open court to four of the child abuse charges. 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, the other two charges, they were dropped. These were the child abuse charges constituting starvation or malnutrition. And as part of her deal, Frankie agreed to testify against Jody Hildebrand. In fact, before this hearing, Ruby's law firm released a statement saying in part, quote, 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. Hildebrand's influence, which is maybe why it was not entirely that surprising that Hildebrandt decided to plead guilty. On December 27th, Hildebrandt appeared in a jail jumpsuit alongside her lawyer to officially enter her own plea. Then, Ms. Hildebrand, how do you plead to count one, aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony? Guilty. And 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, also aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony. Guilty. In the plea agreement documents, Hildebrand admitted to multiple abusive acts. almost identical list of Ruby Frankies, which included forcing Russell and Eve to work outside and direct sunlight, eat during the summer months, denying them food and water. However, where you see a difference is that in Hildebrand's plea agreement, it does say

she either physically forced or coerced Eve to jump into a cactus multiple times. Both children were told that they were evil or possessed, that these acts were necessary and done out of love? After the December 27th hearing, Hildebrandt's defense attorney explains some of the reasons she chose to take a plea. Ms. Hildebrandt, my client, has pled guilty today to four counts. She has done so because she takes responsibility for her conduct in this matter. Her guilty pleas, she decided to plead guilty before Ms. Frankie entered into her plea agreement. or agree to cooperate with the state. She has pled guilty because she wants,

she did not want these children to have to testify. She takes responsibility. And it is her main concern at this point that these children can heal both physically and emotionally. We look forward to sentencing. That's all I have to say today. Also, the two counts that I mentioned that were dropped in the Frankie case.

They were also dropped in the Hildebrand case. And the prosecutor also spoke outside of court about why two of these counts of child abuse were dropped for Frankie and Hildebrand. If our plea offer had been there is no plea offered, plead straight up to all six, then the defendant has no incentive to go to trial. And we're not afraid of trials. We don't want to avoid trials. Trials carry some risk in that you don't know what the outcome is going to be. but but more so when you have victims that are having to go through the trial process that's difficult so now with all of that Hildebrand and Frankie they will both be sentenced in

February and they each face up to 15 years in prison for each count sentences are also going to run consecutively meaning one after the other it's pretty chilling talking about Jody Hildebrandt and Ruby Frankie and it makes you think about how unsafe the world can be at times. Well, our partner and sponsor of this video, Morgan and Morgan, the largest injury law firm in America, they can help tackle one of the scariest things in life. That is when you get hurt. Because if that happens, you may not know what to do.

You're going to have so much on your plate. Morgan and Morgan will make it super easy for you. They have completely modernized the process because you submit your claim, you sign contracts, you upload documents, you talk to your whole legal team, on your phone. That's it. An attorney's going to review your case in just eight clicks. They also have 4,000 support staff that can help you through the process too, which is just amazing to think about. And in terms of price, you only pay them if you win. There's no upfront fee. So if you're injured and you want to join the over 3 million people that call them every year,

you can submit a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar or by dialing pound law. That's pound 529 on your phone. All right. Let's go. get back into the latest on Jody Hildebrand. We're getting insight from someone who experienced alleged abuse inside of Hildebrand's home, her niece, Jesse Hildebrand. Now, we have spoken with Jesse before here on Sidebar talking about previous allegations that have a striking similarity to what happened to Frankie's children inside of that Ivan's Utah home. Well, Jesse joins us again to discuss the latest developments in this case.

Jesse, thank you so much for taking the time. I can't tell you how much I always appreciate you being very open. with how you're feeling and what you experienced. And since we've spoken, so much has happened. I'm just going to ask you straight up, your reaction to Jody Hildebrand, leading guilty. Yeah, 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 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 it actually changing anyone's mind or convincing anyone of like, like it's so obviously a manipulation tactic to save face. 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 accountability, slowly lifted. Yeah, so I was able to speak to the DA a little bit that evening and he informed me that the likelihood of her getting maximum sentencing is incredibly high that she's most likely going to be getting the 60 years. Wow. We were wondering that because again, you know, 15 years is the max on each he's church and you know look the way that we understand it as well and from Utah laws it really isn't the judge who sets it it's more like this is what punishment is and it's up to a board to determine if shove or be granted parole so I mean that's our understanding about it yeah so he also told me that it's about eight months from now that that board will be put together and that's going to be like the first parole hearing will be in as little as eight months And that's what we are going to be focusing, like what the DA said to be focusing on, like having a written statement of harm and showing up to those hearings. And hopefully that this will, this after this first one, it will be pushed years down the line.

Well, first of all, were you there when she pled guilty and do you plan to appear at her sentencing? I was not there. I didn't want to be there. or at least I was I was pretty torn on whether I wanted to be there or not I won't be there for her sentencing simply because of just the timing of it I'll be in Europe 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 the victims to come forward and to convince the the board that she doesn't deserve any sort of girl. I thought it was really interesting when you said that it didn't seem genuine, you know, her reason for pleading guilty. Obviously, from a legal point of view, there's a number of reasons why I think she did it.

You know, you had Ruby Frankie agreeing to testify against her. Evidence looks really bad, but you don't believe in any way. You don't believe in any way she feels bad about what happened. Not even a little bit. No, that was, it's so wild because something that she would constantly accuse me of when I was living with her. So when the abuse started getting really bad, people in my church started noticing that I didn't look well

and that something was wrong. And they started talking to the bishop or the pastor, the person in charge of our ward, just like their concerns. And the bishop, Bishop Bangor, told Jody these people's names, and then we would go to their home, and she would coach me in the car and tell me exactly what I was going to say and then she would go in with me

and I would have to apologize to them for manipulating them into feeling sorry. I believed that Jody was, that Jesus was working through Jody and that Jody was saving me. And so it's just darkly, darkly ironic that watching her in the pews

at the sentencing, just like looking so sad and then telling like her attorney coming out and saying something like that. It's just like, wow, oh, you're manipulating all these. all that time you were telling me that that's what I was doing was just your projection because that's what you would do and are doing.

Like it's like you don't get, you don't get accused and like 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 about these children. That's not possible. And I wanted to ask you about that because now that the plea agreements have been entered, these court documents have been filed, and we now know more details about what happened to these kids.

I mean, talking about Jody Hildebrand, as I mentioned earlier on in the show, she either physically forced or coerced a nine-year-old girl, Eve, to jump into a cactus multiple times. These two children were dehydrated. They weren't given food. They were made to work outside in the heat. Does it, did it seem worse what happened to these kids or just eerily similar to what you went through? So a lot of it was similar. There were certain specifics that were not. I went on News Nation to give a statement right after the plea.

And I didn't know about the cactus. And they had spoken about it right before they brought me on. and it was horrifying to hear about not surprising but horrifying nonetheless she again she is she's one of the most convincing powerful humans you will ever meet and when you are in a state of vulnerability especially as a child there's just she can convince you of anything i mean i worked out in her garden in the middle of the summer like we didn't live in southern utah so it was not as hot or or as dry but i was i was working out in her yard all summer and you know she used you know holding withholding food withholding water as a way of force um i mean she would you know

she duct tape me and tied me up but i was also as a teenager there's a very big difference between being 16 and going through something like this and being a nine-year-old like there's just no way of comparing those two things it was horrifying for me i think it was worse than i even imagined i mean talking about just the injury sustained what these kids went through not even the physical trauma the emotional mental trauma as well and you've talked about that as well yes the the emotional and spiritual abuse i mean it took me i mean i'm still in therapy every week for it there's no and that and again it was almost 15 years ago and i'm still daily like i i mean three through this experience for months, there's been a tremendous amount of healing on my end,

which just goes to show how important accountability is for the victims. Right. But no, I mean, this doesn't, the invisibility of harm almost, it makes it even worse because you, you know, if those kids didn't have those horrifying physical marks on their bodies, would have this would this ever have been intervened yeah i mean like i think about that whether if russell never escaped what would have happened um look i i know um we have to let you go but i did want to ask you real quickly about something that really struck me and how this all went down is that ruby frankie pled guilty um she was going to testify against jody hildebrand but her lawyers

right before the plea agreement or before the plea hearing they released this state that And I read it in part, and it says, again, 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's 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. What is your reaction to Ruby, Frankie, growing Jody Hildebrand under the bus and was going to testify against her? Yeah, no, it's hearing that Ruby was going to testify against Jody just shows me that they had a lot more on Jody. Like the fact that Jody got off on only four counts of child abuse, which is significant. And in my opinion, nothing compared to what they probably had on her.

And as I want to say that Ruby is an adult. Ruby is the mother, you know, she is responsible for her children and she is responsible for what happens to her children. Full stop. And I fully agree, like I can completely understand who he is coming from in that statement. I don't agree with her not having responsibility. She deserves every one of those. counts of child abuse but Jody is one of the most manipulative and it's systematic and I know that the last time that I was on here I talked about that how it was with me it's like line upon

line precept upon precept conditioning it's like you're this frog being boiled alive in water so slowly that you don't realize it's happening until it's already happened. Jesse before I let you go one last quick question you mentioned what the prosecutor said could be a potential sentence for Jody Hildebrand, maximum, did the prosecutor give you any indication about what the potential sentence for Ruby Frankie would be? I didn't ask, honestly. Just that's not the connection I have to this case. I got you.

I got you. Jesse Hildebrand, again, thank you so much for coming on. So sorry again for everything that you've gone through and you're continuing to go through, especially as this case became so national and became on the forefront and the conversation developed about it. But again, thank you so much for your bravery to come on, speak about what happened, and we wish you the best of luck as this case progresses. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for

joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. 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.