Timesuck with Dan Cummins - Short Suck #15 - Ruby Franke

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

On August 30th, 2023, Ruby Franke, a recently very popular Youtuber and "momfluencer" was arrested, along with her therapist, boss, and mentor, Jodi Hildebrandt, and charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse. Both are now in prison. What happened to the woman who over two million people used to look to for parenting advice?For Merch and everything else Bad Magic related, head to: https://www.badmagicproductions.com

Welcome to another edition of Time Suck Short Sucks. I'm Dan Cummins and today I'll be sharing the story of Ruby Frankie. What a fall she took from YouTube Grace. The 42-year-old mother of six from Utah and current inmate, number 262747 at the Utah Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, was once a very popular YouTuber. Her channel, called 8 Passengers, a reference to a family of two parents and six children, had over 2 million subscribers, many of whom watched her for parenting and homeschooling

advice. Viewers enjoyed a window into this family's seemingly wholesome and happy life in suburban central Utah. Ruby was a popular mom-fluencer, and as Ruby's fame grew, so did a variety of concerns about the way she and her husband Kevin disciplined and raised their children. Then in 2021, Ruby started working with a deeply troubled and manipulative marriage and family therapist,

Jodie Hildebrandt. And under Jodie's terrible, family destroying, horrific guidance, Ruby became convinced that her children were possessed by demons. And that in order to save them, she needed to psychologically and physically abuse them in ways that included everything from holding their heads underwater, tying them up, and denying them access to both food and water.

Careful with us content creators. What you see is not always even close to the truth. Words and ideas can change the world. I hated her, but I wanted to love my mother. I have a dream! I'll plead not guilty right now. Your only chance is to leave with us. Ruby Franke was born Ruby Griffiths somewhere in Utah on January 18, 1982.

Source after source after source just lists the state and not the town but, doing some digging around on Ancestry.com, I found yearbook photos of Ruby. Definitely photos of her from Roy High School in Roy, Utah, a suburb of Ogden and only 30 miles north of Salt Lake City. So let's assume she was born and raised in the Ogden area, at least the overall Salt Lake City area. At Roy High School, based on how often she appears in the yearbook, seems as if she was a pretty popular student. Swim team, girls choir, played in the jazz band, had lots of specific photos of just her in the book, a good Mormon young lady. She has three sisters,

Bonnie Holien, Ellie Meacham, Julie Darue, all of whom are also now youtubers and will all later speak out against her. They've aggressively condemned her since her arrest. She also has a brother Bo who's not a vlogger. Also I have no idea if I'm pronouncing Ellie or Julie's last names correctly. I watched way too many videos of them and just trying to figure out you know how to say their name, but they and others just kept referring to them by only their first names.

Ruby met her ex-husband, Kevin Franke, while in college at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. And the two got married in 2000, when Ruby was 18. And Kevin was, if I found the correct record for him, on Ancestry.com, which I think I did, either 19 or 20. Kevin went on to be or would go on to become an associate professor of engineering at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Make the family nice living. Ruby and Kevin were and I think still are both devout members of the LDS Church. Between March of 2003 and September of 2013 they had six kids. Sherry born in March of 2003.

Chad born in February of 2005. Abby born in April of 2007. Julie born in January 2009. Russell born in July of 2011 and Eve the youngest born in September of 2013. Russell and Eve are the two children who are listed as victims of abuse in court documents. Yeah, the youngest got it the worst. Beginning in 2008, based on census information, Ruby was 26 and the family lived in Springfield, Utah.

And they lived there until at least 2020. Prior to that, based on phone records, Kevin and Ruby were living together in Logan, Utah, where they met, quickly got married young, which was not atypical for an LDS couple. Logan about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, Springfield almost 50 miles south of Salt Lake City. Ruby has, it seems, lived her whole life within just a bit more than an hour's drive of Salt Lake City where she is, as I mentioned earlier,

currently incarcerated. And Ruby started her wholesome, gosh dang, oh my heck! You're never gonna hear any potty talk coming out of my godly lips, YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, in 2015 when she was 33, but she wasn't entirely new to YouTube. Prior to that she'd begun posting videos sporadically in 2012. For example, she and Kevin once filmed themselves at a rally supporting Chick-fil-A's stance against LGBTQIA plus marriage, which sounds on brand for them.

Some high horse immoralists lambasting the sinfulness of homosexuals. I'm sure they're against gay couples adopting. Well, you know, she's beating the fuck out of her own kids that she then goes on to starve and straight up tortures, and he abandons them. So that's cool. In the beginning, Ruby's filming and editing skills, not all that great, which would be expected, but she got better and soon she developed a small following and started posting more regularly.

In 2021, Ruby told the media outlet businessinsider.com. They were just a jumbled mess, really, but people started liking them. It became apparent to me very quickly that people were interested in knowing how to respond to children. It became for me a platform of teaching, demonstrating mothers in action. The power of mothers, power of shitty ass mothers. In that same article, which was about allegations of child abuse against Frankie, she railed against quote, cancel culture run amok.

She said during a Zoom call with a journalist from the rap.com, the reason we got canceled was because I was demonstrating as I have done from day one what a responsible mother looks like yeah it doesn't seem in general like the people who talk about cancel culture or doesn't it seem in general like the people talk about it are the people who probably should be canceled not that anybody really gets fucking canceled certainly there are exceptions sometimes witch hunt is real but in general when I read a quote like that the person making the quote is someone who's in trouble for very good reason.

By the time she decided to get serious about vlogging in 2015, Ruby had almost 32,000 followers and she now started posting videos Monday through Friday. Most of her content focused on, you know, motherhood slash parenting, homeschooling, cooking, typical interactions between her and her children, like her waterboarding them to make sure they're telling her the truth, tying them up and lighting M-80 firecrackers, you know, that she's stuck in between her toes just to kind of see, you know, what would happen. Of course, I'm bullshitting about the waterboarding in the M-80s, but doesn't seem totally out of character for her. Of course, I'm bullshitting about the waterboarding in the M80s, but doesn't seem totally out of character for her. 2016 Ruby did an interview with Salt Lake City TV affiliate KSL.

She spoke about why she liked filming her daily life saying, I have a tendency to worry about the future and try to plan for the future and I get so caught up in that I forget to live in the now in the present and just enjoy the kids. And so when I pull out the camera, it's just a reminder to let my heart rate come down and to just enjoy being with the kids as they are right now. Huh, I would think that it would be easier to stay in the moment if you weren't filming, if you weren't just thinking about proper lighting

and the best camera angles and that kind of stuff. But what do I know? I'm no mom influencer, gosh dang. Ruby's husband, Kevin, was a regular presence in the videos, and the two of them frequently discussed their beliefs on raising and disciplining children, and their discussions clearly resonated with the large audience. Because by 2019, Ruby had almost a million subscribers and was receiving lucrative sponsorship offers from a variety of national brands in addition to your standard random YouTube rev share ads. At his peak eight passengers would accumulate roughly 2.5 million subscribers. Going back to 2019 this was

also the year that Frankie the Frankie family experienced their first kid related scandal. Ruby posted a vlog where she discussed how she was refusing to bring her six-year-old daughter Eve lunch to school because Eve had forgotten to bring her lunch. Eve's teacher had texted Ruby, asked her to bring it, but she refu- proudly refused to do so. Saying to the camera, you know, seeming pretty, uh, you know, uh, you know, excited about herself in what looks like a nice luxury SUV, fashionable outfits, you know, glowing, well taken care of skin. She could be just driving back from the spa. She says, hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her a lunch,

because then she's not going to learn from the natural outcome. She doesn't need to learn from the natural outcome in this situation, you fucking moron. Truly saddens me when somebody this dumb gets a platform this big. And unfortunately, I have now watched enough of her content to know that she is in fact an ignorant moron. And even outside of her most egregious examples of abuse, she's a terrible parent who should have never been advising fucking anyone about parenting. Should a six-year-old suffer the natural outcome of horsing around near the edge of a cliff?

Maybe a good 200 or 300 foot drop will teach them why they shouldn't do that. Natural outcome. Get out of here. I'm going to try my hand at being a dadfluencer right now. Check out this sage advice from somebody with a well-adjusted 16 and 18 year old. If a six-year-old forgets their lunch, here's what you do. You bring them their fucking lunch. Yeah, that's it. If at all possible, with your work life situation, you bring it to them, you ruffle their hair, you tease them lightly, then you shut the fuck up about it. They're six. Their brain is still half loose gravel

and a pack of rabbit squirrels. Now, if they keep forgetting over and over again, sure, you can explore some behavior modification. You know, let them grab a school hot lunch that they don't like. Maybe don't let them play with their favorite toy when they come home on the day they forgot. Some light punishment.

Maybe try rewarding them with something if they can remember for say five days in a row to bring it. Then they get their favorite milkshake or you agree to play their favorite game with them for an hour. Some kind of good old fashioned positive reinforcement. There are a lot of options.

Better than fucking with their nutrition, leaving them hungry for the second half of their school day, which negatively affects their ability to learn. But also, if they're sick, why aren't you placing their lunch into their backpack directly? Why is it their responsibility? It's six. Why aren't you making sure they're stepping onto the bus with their lunch in hand? Why aren't you, since you're a stay-at-home mom, dropping them the fuck off at school with their lunch? Which is exactly what Lindsay and I did for years, mostly Lindsay,

if I'm gonna be honest, until both of the kids could drive since podcasting allowed us to be flexible and bend work around life. I know all of this and I'm not even the best parent in my own household. I'm a distant second to Lindsay. In 2021, Ruby would say that the real reason she didn't bring her daughter lunch was that the school was 45 minutes away and the day would almost be over by the time they got there. But that's bullshit based on what she just said. After this video, some viewers started looking through Ruby's old content, calling her out for lying in instances like this.

And that's when some of them found that 2012 clip of Ruby at Chick-fil-A, the whole rally supporting Chick-fil-A's stance against LGBTQIA plus marriage. Her husband, Kevin Franke, defended their actions to Business Insider.com in 2021, saying, a company should have the freedom to contribute to whatever charitable cause they want without fear of repercussions from a mob burning their store down. Nobody was burning their stores down. You fucking alarmist. You fucking drama queen.

Shut the fuck up. Ruby added, our very first encounter with cancel culture, and we didn't even know what cancel culture was. Some people not agreeing with your stance on an issue and then no longer wanting to watch your content or support your business. That's not an example of cancel culture. That's an example of consumer choice. I have said shit so many times here that I knew before publishing it was going to cost me listeners because I was taking a stance on a divisive issue that mattered to me and when some listeners did move on and left some shitty reviews and sent some emails they weren't canceling me they just didn't like what I had to say anymore that

happens it's a life happens with content creation also happens with romantic relationships co-workers friends and family. Then in some new videos, Ruby encounters more backlash, more cancel culture, the fucking woke mob trying to get them, when she threatens to throw some of her children's belongings away unless they purchase them from her or perform equivalent value chores. This is so especially fucked up because her kids already do work for her when she's saying this. Since she was directly using them for paid content creation. She is filming them and she is monetizing those videos.

So they already work. Ruby once made her youngest daughter cry by threatening to cut off the head of a stuffed animal she loved. So that's cool. That's a good mom choice. Also filmed herself discussing extremely personal topics with her kids, like her daughter's first period on camera. You know, I've done a lot of standup

about my kids over the years. But once I hit the age of about six, I started to ask them if it was okay for me to make certain jokes. Which is why I stopped doing very much material about them when they entered their teens. They didn't want that kind of stuff out there. Monroe would have murdered me if I was sharing content about her starting to get her period.

I highly doubt Ruby was checking in with the kids and be like, hey, are you okay with all this? Which is what you should have done. The Frankies claimed that they regularly consulted experts on how to protect their children's well-being, but the kids would say stuff on camera no less about how they were being bullied, had no friends in school, for example, that left a lot of the family's fans worried about the kids well-being. And if they're saying that kind of stuff on camera like you know what were they afraid of saying? What were they afraid of being tortured for saying? Ruby and Kevin came under fire again in August of 2019 when they filmed a video explaining why their 14 year old son Chad had not been in their vlogs that summer. He said

Chad was expelled for unspecified reasons and was sent to a 10 week program with the Anasazi Foundation, a non-profit group. The company's website describes it as an outdoor intervention camp for troubled teens and young adults up to 25 years old. One of the oldest youth residential treatment facilities in Utah and a lot of former students, including a name you've probably heard of, Hilton have accused the staff there of various kinds of abuse. Frankies received significant negative feedback for their decision to send Chad to wilderness therapy. There was a whole free Chad

movement more and more vloggers now starting to pop up and create content about the Frankie family being shitty parents. They didn't think Chad had done anything nearly severe enough to warrant being sent away. My daughter Monroe actually told me about it. I found out when talking about this topic over dinner with Lindsay and the kids that she got sucked into all this drama a few years ago. She was worried about Chad and the other children. Kevin said in the video responding to negative comments, what many of you are criticizing or calling abusive are actually things that mental health professionals have counseled us to do. But were they seeing like, you know, like legit mental health professionals or were they just seeing nut jobs? Like the one you're gonna meet here soon, Jody Hildebrandt.

Gotta be careful who you're choosing to get your advice from. Just a month after Chad returned home, he was in trouble again. So much trouble for pranking his younger brother Russell. In a posted video, Chad explained that he woke his brother up in the middle of the night and told him they were going to Disneyland. But you know, they weren't. That was a prank. You know, get your brother's hopes up. He's going to Disneyland.

Someplace he's probably been talking about wanting to go. Just to crush him and watch him cry. Chad's punishment for this prank? He lost his bed. Had his bed taken away for seven months straight Had to sleep on a little beanbag for seven months. That's absurd. I mean wasn't kind of a mean prank. Yeah Was it totally normal a big brother prank fucking with a younger brother type of prank? Yes I pranked my little sister Donna when I was 12 or 13. 12 or 13? 12 or 13. And she was seven or eight for about a week. This one time I pranked her so many times. Pretended to be God up on the roof for a while. Actually had her by it. Donna, this is God. I would just tell her random shit. But this time I told her that there was a demon living under her bed

that could kill her. And it would kill her if she touched the floor at night anywhere near her bed. But if she just avoided that for a few weeks it would move on and she'd be cool. But she couldn't tell mom because the demon would then kill mom. And then I got to watch her sprint down the hall and just long jump her little terrified skinny ass in the bed night after night and just laugh myself until I cried. Until mom finally saw her and wondered what the hell was going on and I like I was a lecture for my mom who tried not to laugh about it but failed because it was fucking hilarious and Donna and I are both fine maybe I should have gotten a

little trouble but you know kids are gonna be kids maybe I should have I don't know had something taken away been grounded for a few nights or something but seven months with no bed get out of Well this clip went viral on tik-tok and the family now faced more criticism went viral for the wrong reasons Frankie's now hired lawyers Started to send cease-and-desist letters to several other youtubers who are making videos mocking criticizing them for being terrible parents But also the scandal attracted them a lot of attention and they amassed more subscribers and started making more money than ever They were getting around 200,000 views a day now by some estimates. They were earning $1,600 a day in ads, which equates to $584,000 a year.

They were the opposite of cancelled. But the backlash, while it boosted them temporarily in the end, it did kill them because they just kept doubling down on being pieces of shit and not taking any of the feedback into consideration. The 8 Passenger's channel began to decline in 2020 when more and more people began to unsubscribe due to being continually disgusted with Ruby and Kevin's parenting and just overall idiotic advice. By the spring their views had fallen to the point that Ruby lost most of her major sponsors.

At one point their ad rate was $11 per 1,000 viewers due to a heightened level of fan engagement and demand. Then it dropped to less than a dollar per 1,000 views by 2021. Ruby told Business Insider this was a case of, again, cancel culture caused by liberal teenage harassers taking her videos out of context. She said, the reason we got canceled was because I was demonstrating as I have done from day one. She's a victim in all this you guys. What a responsible mother looks like and it scared the living bejesus out of these kids who do not want to be held accountable. So that is the motive for the hate being thrown at me. I'm the antidote

to their acting out and they know it. Or to play devil's advocate instead of demonstrating what a responsible mother looked like maybe teens were mad because advocate. Instead of demonstrating what a responsible mother looked like, maybe teens were mad because Rubu was actually demonstrating what an abusive, mean-spirited, power-hungry, self-righteous cunt looked like. Maybe. Maybe that's a possibility. May of 2020, a viewer wrote a petition on change.org asking for child protective services to investigate the family and around 18,000 people, mostly I'm assuming eight passenger

subscribers or people just fascinated by this online train wreck, signed the petition. Around 18,000 people were like, this momfluencer for sure needs to have her kids taken away. Due to the petition, CPS came to the Frankie household in Springville in June of 2020. They arrived after the family came home from a camping trip. Ruby later recalled to Business Insider again, I remember that morning very well. These officers, they were two ladies, said that there had been several complaints about child abuse and child neglect. Could they come in and spend some time? According to Ruby, CPS told her they were getting around a thousand complaints a day, a thousand complaints a day, from random

people telling them to save these kids. Ruby said the officers looked to the home and pantry, interviewed all six children separately, then she claimed CPS was so impressed with her, with her parenting, that before they left they asked her for parenting tips and said they were gonna go home and make some changes in their own households. Bullshit! That never fucking happened. She's a liar. The case really was closed though for the time being when the claims were found to be unsubstantiated. Her poor kids, I'm guessing, too scared to tell the social workers what was really going on, which happens too often in situations like that.

Backing up a bit now to the year before, to 2019, when Ruby was introduced to the Maniac, who would drastically change her life for the worst. For the worse. No, no tea. Change her life for the worst... for the worst... no, no tea. Change her life for the worst, I think. Jodie Hildebrandt. And before we meet this destructive monster, time for today's mid-show sponsor break. If you don't want to hear these ads, you can sign up for our Patreon, become a Spacers of five bucks a month, get the entire catalog ad free and more.

And I'm back, and now it's time to meet the one and only. Thank God there's just one of her Jodi Hildebrandt. Jodi is a former therapist who specialized in porn and sex addiction. In 2007, she started a company called Connections with the purpose of providing relationship and parenting counseling. The Connections website mission statement says, parenting counseling. The Connections website mission statement says, We invite and encourage healing and facilitate personal growth through impeccable honesty, rigorous personal responsibility, and humility.

Former clients have said the counseling was rooted in the teachings of the LDS church and that Jodi used an extreme approach, which is quite an understatement. Ruby would say that Jodi began counseling one of her sons in 2019, and because she was so impressed, she went ahead and hired Jodie to be her personal mentor in 2020. The two would then go on to become business partners of a sort not long after that, although Ruby said she never received any wages from Jodie's company. Despite claiming to be a relationship and marriage therapist, Jodie was both divorced and estranged from her kids. Ah, the balls on this lady. I know sometimes shit happens in life that you're not a fall for and the divorce doesn't mean you know you don't know

anything about marriage. In fact, a divorce can lead you to learning more about what it really takes to make a marriage work. Counter-intuitively perhaps due to you hopefully analyzing what went wrong in your marriage and doing some painful self-reflection and soul-searching you might not have done otherwise had you not gotten divorced. The whole you learn more from your failures than from your success's anger. And being estranged from your kids doesn't necessarily mean you're a terrible parent. Maybe an ex manipulated them against you. Maybe they fell into drug abuse or some other kind of addiction and you refused to enable them which was the call, but then they resented you for being strong and doing the right thing.

I get that there are exceptions. All that being said, if I found out that a marriage and family therapist was both divorced and estranged from her kids, no fucking way I'm trusting them. That is like hiring someone to be your self-defense instructor the week after you kick the shit out of them at a bar. Or hiring a dietitian who is 200 pounds overweight with chocolate stains and donut sprinkles all over the front of their shirt. Get out of here! Nevertheless, in 2021, Ruben, uh, Ruben? Oh, Ruben and Kevvie. Ruby and Kevin began marriage counseling sessions with Jodie. And Kevin's lawyer later told People magazine that Jodie suggested early on that

the couple separate to save their marriage. So Kevin moved out and also stopped communicating with his children at Jodie's direction who was told to direct him in that way. Uh, or, excuse me, yeah, yeah, Ruby's direction and Jodie's direction. Never mind. It's a holy quack. So we got the crazy leading the insane when it comes to Ruby and Jodie. In 2022, after coming home from a trip with Jodie and another counselor, Ruby told Kevin that his attitude is infesting the family and the only way to save the marriage is to separate. Kevin doesn't seem to fight this.

He just moves out, stops talking to several of his kids. His son Chad joined him initially, but then Jodie ordered the two of them to stay separate and said they were enabling one another and he fucking listened. And the bullshit some people entertain from their spouses is so sad. Where was Kevin looking for a reason to get his ass away from Ruby and the kids? Kevin now cuts off communication with almost everyone in his life, only speaks to Ruby per Ruby's request if she reaches out to him. And Ruby will only contact him three or four times over the next year. Kevin has said over and over since Ruby was arrested for abusing his two youngest kids that he was unaware of the abuse that Ruby was

committing against their children. And I don't buy that for a fucking second. And fuck this guy for allowing his wife and her therapist to fully dictate his relationship with his kids. And I speak from experience when I say that you do not have to listen to your ex. You don't have to listen to your spouse. When I was going through my divorce almost 15 years ago now, there were some requests made where I was like, no, that is never gonna happen. Luckily my ex had been pretty good about realizing when confronted that some of the shit I was worried about, you know, wasn't actually very cool and overall she'd been pretty good about putting the kids first. Yeah, so you to fucking set some boundaries. You got to put your foot down. You got to be aggressive in these situations for the kids. 2022, also the year, Ruby stopped

posting videos on 8 Passengers. After announcing she was joining Jodi's Connections podcast, Ruby started working with Jodi and appearing in videos with her. But again, she wasn't being paid. Even when Ruby was later given the title of Certified Mental Fitness Trainer on the Connections website, she still wasn't being paid. So who was covering her bills? I'm guessing Kevin was. Also, what the hell is a Certified Mental Fitness Trainer? Is she making people work on crossword puzzles while they ran on the treadmill? Was she helping people learn a new language while they lifted weights? Five more, you got this! Cinco más, lo tienes!

Ruby had shut the channel down because viewership was plummeting and more and more videos were getting backlash online like when Ruby did some weird victim blaming about how no one should be able to get an abortion because anyone who's had sex, you know, for sure has chosen to have sex. Because rape is apparently a myth in Ruby's worldview. Let me give you... A lot of her stuff has been taken down so it's hard to find things in their entirety,

but here's a little clip from this that somebody put on TikTok. If you end up pregnant, then you had sex first. Or if you were pregnant, you were taken advantage of. And what did you do to put yourself in this situation where you're being taken advantage of? Oh my God. Uh, the comment section lights her up.

It kills me when people take a hard line of, if you don't want to get pregnant, well, you shouldn't have had sex. Or, or if you didn't want to have sex, well, you shouldn't put yourself in situation where some sex might happen. And they just do not factor in the massive amount of raping and molestation that has occurred in every nation of the world in every period of history. Yeah. The comment section eats her alive. Moshi926 posts, I mean I was seven in my own room, but okay. Billy's version posts, I was sleeping, but okay, gee. Carcar posts, got drugged by my best friend of five years, but yep, my bad.

And Bella posts, thank God I'm not pregnant, but I was wearing a My Little Pony nightgown in my Dora bedroom so she can for real eat shit. Yes. And another clip. Ruby and Jodie, these two fucking brainiacs, talk about immigration and come across like some real, you know, cold, just uncaring pieces of shit. And these people are not victims, by the way.

I just want you to see that. The people who are coming across the border illegally, they know what they're doing is illegal. It's illegal, like stealing stuff from a store illegal. They're coming into America illegally. And so they're not victims. So don't feel sorry for the people who are being moved around the country. But there's other comments from the other side

who are allowing these borders to be open. When they're in front of their house, they're like, this is so horrible that you are demoralizing human beings and using them as political pawns. It's like, no, no, you want them in here so you can use them as a political pawn so that they'll vote for you and all sorts of other reasons you want them in here. You're using them as a political pawn.

That's what DeSantis was doing. He's putting in front, literally in front of where Biden lives. Here are your choices. Here are your choices, here they are. Let me reflect to you. There's Juan and Jose and Ismaelda. And they're all there. And then they say, they don't want to take accountability

for their choices, and so they flip it and say, you're doing this to me. And they use their mind, they use their intellect, their language, their power, positions of power to say, how dare you do this to these poor people? Yeah. Two affluent white ladies in a giant 5,000 square foot house with their fucking perfectly manicured hands and their three $400 haircuts should not be saying shit like this.

When they use the names, they come across so fucking racist. And look, I don't want open borders. Not at all. But I feel fucking terrible for the desperate families trying to sneak into this country. Families of any fucking country. It doesn't matter what country they're from. Doesn't matter what ethnicity they're from. In so many cases they're fleeing from horror. Horror that we don't experience in this country. They're fleeing gang violence to a level you don't even fucking see in, you know, like the worst neighborhoods of America. They're fleeing rampant crime and truly dire hopeless economic situations where they could work their ass off and still have nothing to show for it. To label them just as criminals is disgustingly reductive. They often are victims, victims of circumstance.

None of us got to choose what environment we were born into and some of us got a lot fucking luckier than others. And if I were in a desperate situation, if I was trying to save my family and give them some fucking hope and keep them out of poverty, away from gangs, I would try and sneak into this or any country where I thought life could be better too. Now you want to be upset about this situation? Fine. Are you upset because you feel we need to figure out how to take care of our own people in this country first before we try and help everybody else? Yeah, I get it. I hear ya.

But to write off Hispanic illegal immigrants en masse as just criminals unworthy of any sympathy don't feel sorry for them. Go fuck your entitled self. The police received two more calls about the Frankie family in 2022. One call came from her oldest daughter, Sherry Frankie, now 19 years old and estranged from the family on September 18th, 2022. Sherry requested a welfare check

at her family's Springfield home because she was rightfully concerned about her younger siblings. After a neighbor had notified her that her younger siblings had been left alone at home for five days. Sherry wanted to know the kids were safe and had enough food for an extended period of time like that. She told authorities that Ruby was apparently in St. George, Utah with Jodie, with her BFF,

her counselor, a woman whose own family hates her, a therapist who is totally cool with Ruby abandoning her kids for nearly a week, even though her youngest Eve is only nine. An officer went to Ruby's home, knocked, but no one answered, but children could be seen through the windows, but they would not open the door. Clearly, they were scared. They had been instructed not to open the door for authorities. Neighbors confirmed to visiting officers that Ruby had left her kids home alone to go to St. George. They also expressed concern about the two youngest kids being homeschooled while the older ones went to public school Youngest kids could not communicate with the outside world at all in addition to being homeschooled

They didn't have cell phones wasn't even a landline in the home. They're just completely cut off Officers followed up assisted Utah's division of child and family services with visits on three occasions afterwards in April of 2022 a caseworker with Utah's DCFS Contacted the police after she was made aware of two Frankie children running on the road unsupervised. An officer checked it out, but didn't see any kids on the street when they checked it out. Also reported that Ruby called the police herself in 2020

to report someone leaving her threatening messages. Someone told her they were gonna take her family down. There would be riots at her door when the world found out the truth about her. And whoever that person was, well done. She deserved to be threatened. April of 2023, daughter Sherry Franky appeared on a podcast called Into the Light and explained she was estranged from her mother Ruby because of her family's involvement with Jodie and connections.

She said that her mom joined connections to be growth oriented, but that she was growing in the wrong direction. She's becoming more and more extreme in her weird ass views. Unbeknownst to Sherry and most of the world at this time, Ruby Frankie and Jodie Hildebrandt were now horrifically abusing Ruby's youngest son and daughter, Russell and Eve, 11 and nine years old. They were starving them, confining them in Jodie's massive home in Ivan's Utah, over 250 miles from Springfield.

Ruby's son attempted to escape in July of 2023 but was caught when he tried to run away, and as a punishment his hands and feet were bound with handcuffs and rope. Then on August 30th he successfully escaped. He climbed through a window, ran to a neighbor's house after getting a hold of the key to unlock his cuffs. Doorbell camera footage captured a skinny scared boy at the front door of Danny and Debbie Clarkson. I watched this footage and it is fucking heartbreaking. You can find several examples of this footage on different videos on YouTube. Poor little emaciated Russell Frankie, now 12 years old, barely 12 years old, nervously asks Danny Clarkson, who looks like he's around 60, through the camera, so Danny's still inside the house at this point.

Hey, I was just wondering if you could do two favors. And he's like, you know, shuffling back and forth. So so nervous standing way back from the door. Danny not be able to see that Russell is abused yet because of how far from the camera he is. Seems irritated at first and just responds, well, what are they? Then Russell says, taking me to the nearest police station, so I guess just one favor. And he asked this so politely. You can tell immediately he is a good sweet kid. He reminds me of Kyler. And now Danny, he and his wife Debbie, they go out, they

look this kid over. And when Danny then calls the police, he breaks down, starts sobbing. He's so upset by how blatantly abused this kid is. One of the EMTs who shows up, she has to step away from helping this kid so she can go break down and cry. Watching the scene, I fucking broke down, started crying. Then I told Lindsey about it and I cried all over again. It's so sad to watch, especially because Russell doesn't cry.

He's so used to being abused. He's just like stoic. Just like this weird, detached acceptance. This is just his life. One of the EMTs notices right away that the joints in his legs are malformed from fucking malnutrition. Even though his parents have plenty of money, his ankles and wrists wrapped up in duct tape on top of Saran wrap underneath. His skin is all cut and torn up. He's so skinny, dangerously skinny. One of the first police officers who arrives, Officer Simon Pikivit asks him, who put the ropes on you? And then he tells him that his mom and Jody bound his arms and his feet to weights on the ground that restricted his movement. And when the officer hears this, the way the kid says it, he has to excuse himself out of the ambulance so he can go fucking cry. Man

if hell is real there needs to be a special place in it for child abusers abusers like these two women. I just do not understand how someone can be such a piece of shit that they can brutalize a little child especially their own child who is looking to them for love and protection and guidance. Watching this clip honestly made me want to tie Ruby and Jodie to the same chair and beat them both to death with a fucking baseball bat. Russell informs the police that his younger sister is in Jodie's home trying to save his sister. Officers now do a massive security sweep of Jodie's home.

Via body cam footage you can see that in the house they find this little girl. They think it's a little boy at first.'s so skinny or hair is so short she's sitting cross-legged perfectly still on the floor in the middle of a walk-in closet like doesn't move at all doesn't respond to their question it's eerie it's like a scene from a horror movie even though they have been confined in the same house the officers find out that Russell and Eve had not been allowed to see each other in over a month officers whoers who went to this home, by the way, fucking rock stars. They cleared this house so damn fast and they were so gentle with this little girl and so firm with Jodie. Sergeant Nick Tobler, oh man,

this guy needs a fucking medal or three, sat in the closet with Eve, waiting until she felt ready to talk, building her trust gently for over two hours. She doesn't move at all until some other officers bring her a personal pizza and a soda. They set it in front of her that they'd driven off to go get for her and she devours the whole thing. Then they get her a large pizza. She's so hungry still she ate half of this large adult pizza and drinks down a whole milkshake. She's starving, literally starving. She won't feel ready to leave the closet until they have been there with her keeping her calm for over four hours. So fucked up she is from the abuse.

Meanwhile, other officers find a large hidden room in Jodie's home behind this big bank safe type of door. There's restraints inside it, a bathroom, a small kitchen. It's a safe room, clearly being used as a prison and torture cell for these little kids. Both Ruby and Jodie are arrested the same day in Washington County, Utah Utah on Jodie's house. Jodie is home when officers arrive. She tried to keep them from coming in actually saying she's on the phone with her lawyer. Oh she's like all like entitled and arrogant at first. They just grab her little dumb ass and just push her aside like the fool she is. Oh it's delicious to watch. The look on her face just like oh just such a care like how dare you?

Yeah, bye bye, bitch. Their power trip is over. You're not going to be bossing shit for quite a while. Then Ruby shows up while officers are working with Eve in the closet all arrogant too. And they, yeah, rest in both, charge each with six counts of child abuse. Court documents posted to Jodie's channel two days earlier

as, or said, excuse me, court documents cited a YouTube video. I doubted my own notes for a second there. Posted to Jodie's channel two days earlier, played a part in the arrest. The affidavit stated, Ruby Frankie was seen on a YouTube video filmed in Jodie Hildebrand's downstairs, which was posted two days ago, and the video was evidence that the women were present in the home and had knowledge of the abuse, malnourishment and neglect because they talked about it. Ruby's two teenage kids, Abby and Julie, fortunately were found in good condition, taking in the state custody.

The oldest two, Chad and Sherry, both grown out of the house, thank God. Chad quickly posted about being so happy that she was arrested his mother. Sherry posted finally on her Instagram story after news of the arrest broke following day she released an additional statement on Instagram. Said, today's been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We've been trying to tell the police and CPS

for years about this. So glad they finally decided to step up. Sherry also asked her followers to add clips of suspicious and questionable comments made by Ruby to a shared Google Doc. Good on her. Ruby's sisters Ellie and Julie released a joint statement via Instagram August 31st. For the last three years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Frankie for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe. We wouldn't feel right about moving forward with regular content without

addressing the most recent events. Once we do we will not be commenting on it further. Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodie was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe which is the number one priority. After the arrest people in Ruby's neighborhood spoke to the media. Family lived in a very wealthy community full of doctors, executives, where there's very little crime, so the arrests were especially shocking. One neighbor who lived near the family in Springville for five years told people about red flags that led other families in the neighborhood to call the police, but that no one thought the abuse was quite as bad as it was.

The biggest concern among neighbors was the fact that the two youngest children who were seen outside suddenly disappeared from the neighborhood. Ruby's two teenage daughters appeared to be left alone for weeks at a time while she left to visit Jodie's home, which was a four to five hour drive away. Another neighbor told NBC, everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags. On September 6th, YouTube announced that it had terminated two channels linked to Ruby Frankie in accordance with creator responsibility guidelines and was prepared to delete other channels that might attempt to re-upload Ruby's content.

September 11th, Jodie's niece, Jessie Hildebrandt, spoke to KU-TV, alleged that their aunt abused them, her and her siblings, while under her care for a year as a teenager. Jesse said that she hoped Jodie was not sidelined because Jodie's been doing this for much longer. Jesse said the abuse occurred over a decade ago, but was similar to what Ruby's children went through. The things that I experienced while living with Jodie, I experienced being tied, I experienced being duct-taped, I experienced being blindfolded, I experienced severe isolation, I experienced severe emotional, spiritual, and psychological abuse. I experienced being told I shouldn't be around other people, being told that I was dangerous to be around.

People were afraid of me to the point where I was afraid of myself. Fucksake. And that is why Jodie is estranged from her kids. Jessie recalled that they were isolated up to 12 hours a day once they were forced to sleep in the snow. My god, they alleged that Jodie accused them of being a sex addict and addicted to masturbation. It would not allow them any privacy when they used the bathroom. If you're the parent of a pubescent or post-pubescent kid and you're teaching your kid that masturbation is evil or wrong, can you do me one small favor? Just one little thing. I just want you to go find some train tracks and I want you to stand safely

off to the side in a rural area where the trains are zipping by real fast and I want you to wait for one of these fast moving trains to be heading towards you on the tracks and once it's about 50 yards out just quietly solemnly just stand out in front of the tracks just stand in the middle of the tracks in front of the train and just let it fucking blast you please it'll be better for your family this way kids are supposed to masturbate right for the Cleveland Clinic masturbation is a normal healthy part of your sexual developments masturbation has many documented health benefits that may may reduce stress, improve sleep,

and ease pain among other benefits. Per the websites of numerous world renowned hospitals like the Mayo Clinic, masturbation is proven to reduce stress, relieve tension, improve sleep, increase your focus, boost your mood, alleviate aches and pain, enhance your sex life, prevent anxiety and depression, make your dick and pussy feel great.

Per Backwoods Morons, still thinking in 2024 like scared, ill scared illiterate dark ages peasants in medieval Europe a thousand years ago. God said you'll burn in hell if you have totally normal psychologically healthy sexual fantasies and touch yourself. Get the fuck out of here with that. September 13th, Ruby's other sister Bonnie Holien releases a video on her YouTube channel explaining that she and her other sisters Ellie Meacham, Julie Griffith have been estranged from Ruby and thus had no knowledge of the abuse. She said in one part of the video, we were cut off.

We did not have access to anyone. I am not my sister. I am not my sister's mistakes. Clearly she was getting some unpleasant DMs and or emails about all this. During a September 2023 hearing on the custody of her children, Ruby, because she's truly a piece of shit who does not deserve to ever walk free again, alleged that one of her minor children's sex she abused up to 20 other kids, including one of her siblings, presented zero proof and there has been no public acknowledgement of any additional investigation into this.

Judge did tell the court that the allegedly abusive child would need to be put in a home with no other children as a precaution, but then in October, the custody case for this kid was closed to the public. Sure looks here like Ruby in an effort to distract from her own crimes through one of her own children under the bus, hard, accusing them of being a pedophile. In late September, some of Jodie Hildebrand's former patients spoke out about how she ruined their lives in marriages. They were all patients who had seen Jodie for counseling between 2008 and 2019.

She claimed that Jodie separated spouses, told patients they had addictions to porn or sex when they didn't. Encourage him to cut off people who weren't living in accordance with her teachings. Yeah, Jodie's a menace. I hope someone, maybe a former patient, shivs her in prison. If she's ever put on a suicide watch, I hope the guards on duty accidentally missed some rounds after making sure she knows how to fashion a new set of some sheets. Stephanie Jones, who attended counseling with her ex-husband in 2019, said, The theory was that if you're meeting with Jodie, then you are all living in truth.

And so she didn't want you talking to anyone else about your problem. It's like cult speak. She wanted you talking to people that were also living in truth. Of course, her truth, whatever that happens to be. So this is when I started to feel like it was kind of cult-like. She wanted everything to stay in the group. You're not allowed to have a different opinion than her. Yeah.

Jodie's lessons focused on quote truth and deception. She taught her clients that people live in distortion when they allow wants, needs, and experiences to impact their commitment to the truth. Which was this fucking changing thing that she's you know talked about. Undeleted YouTube videos Jodie and Ruby preached that those who are not living in truth, even children should be cut off from the rest of their families. Which is insane. A main focus of Jodie's treatment programs, especially for male clients, was pornography and sex addiction. Jodi previously worked as a therapist specialized in porn addiction, which is actually not a recognized disorder in the DSM-5.

Pornography use considered a major sin by the LDS church and some considered a gateway to crimes like murder, which it is not. People who consider a gateway to a crime like murder. People not great at analyzing data, thinking. Some murderers, yeah, have definitely watched a lot of porn. Yeah, that's true. But so many more people who have never murdered anyone have also watched a lot of porn.

According to AddictionHelp.com, approximately 69% of American men view online porn each year. And other sites and studies have found similar numbers. And, you know, if all those people were murdering, well, then the rest of us would be dead. I've been with the same woman now for over a dozen years. Just over a dozen years. And she's the only person I've been sexual with during that time. And we both have watched porn when we masturbate for the entirety of our relationship. And we both have learned things. That we've then tried on each other with great success. Thank you porn. Not a popular opinion with the angry God crowd, but watching porn can be beneficial.

All depends on what kind of porn you're watching, what your intention is with it. Might fuck up your sex life, might enhance it, might help your marriage, might fuck up your marriage. I look at it like alcohol or weed or many other drugs. It's all in how you use it combined with who you happen to be. Weed is not inherently good or bad, it just is. It destroys some people's motivation but it enhances other people's creativity and the quality of their work. Harms some people's mental health and lead to paranoia, memory problems, even psychosis. But for other people, reduces physical pain,

decreases mental stress, alleviates anxiety, lifts depression. Come on. Five men told NBC that Jodie diagnosed them with porn or sex addictions, although they did not exhibit abnormal issues with either. They were put into men's counseling groups and in these meetings their peers described getting kicked out of their houses or abstaining from sex with their spouses for months at a time as punishment for watching porn. And that is garbage. Spencer Tibbett saw Jodie for two months when he was just 16. He said he grew up very sheltered, had little access to technology. He was punished for obtaining a secret phone so he could play some video games. Well, Jodie, she moves him from a children's group into a men's group, with men talking about their addiction to porn, even though at that time Spencer, who again lived a very sheltered, controlled life,

had never even seen any porn. But now here he is listening to dudes talk about shit like incest fantasies. Oh, thanks therapist! Jodi had actually lost her license to practice therapy back in 2012 for over a year when she was disciplined by Utah's Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. She was given probation for 18 months because she'd engaged in unprofessional conduct by disclosing confidential information about a patient with LDS leaders and BYU officials. And this patient was a student at the time and she was also counseling this patient's wife who happened to be her intern. So massive conflict of interest. Jody's license later sadly fully reinstated in 2013. It's been suspended indefinitely now.

Adam Paul Steed saw Jody for nine months in 2008. He told NBC that he was the patient that Jodie disclosed confidential information about back in 2012. She said that Jodie tried to treat him for sex and porn addiction, but he refused to comply with her stupid bullshit lessons. And then Jodie made false claims about him to their church, to BYU, and to his ex-wife. He was temporarily suspended from BYU because of the lies she told, and he got a divorce and he blames Jodie for his divorce. His ex-wife thought she now had to protect herself and their children from him.

Oh boy, he claimed Jodie weaponized his trauma from childhood sexual abuse against him. He said, Hildebrandt was blaming everything on me being a sexual addict at that point. She was saying that every time I said I was a victim of sexual abuse that that was my addiction speaking. So if I had PTSD and trauma and I mentioned it they would confront me that that was my addiction to sexual abuse. Fucking what? Holy revictimization. Telling someone that by

experiencing PTSD due to them being sexually abused that they are addicted to being sexually abused. Like that's just nonsensical. It's outrageous. Yeah it would be great again if she dies in prison. Jodie is so hated that someone created the website JodieHildebrandt.com where they list out all the legal trouble she's gotten into and they make it very easy for people to fill out these new online you know complaints against her. According to this website Jodie was before her arrest making up to $30,000 a month off of her fucked up brand of therapy. There's a section on this website called reviews. People are still posting story after story after story about how Jodie shattered their family. Generally by banishing the dad from the family and forbidding the kids from speaking with him and turning the kids and wife against the dad.

Sounds like she hates men. And just used her therapy to punish as many dudes as possible just because they happen to be dudes. Yeah, she's a monster. Back to Ruby and her family now. Her ex-husband Kevin Frankie's attorney said he was distraught over the abuse after Ruby's arrest. But noted that he and Ruby had been living separately for 13 months. Lawyer also emphasized that no one had ever made any allegations that Kevin was physically abused in his children.

But he neglected them because it was a weak spineless fuck. Speaking with today Kevin's attorney said that they were separated at Ruby's directive. Kevin said he didn't want to separate. He wanted to work through their problems, but their separation was under terms prescribed by Ruby Ruby and Jodie Hildebrand. That doesn't mean you have to follow them Ruby's sister Bonnie Holien who's also a youtuber as I mentioned said some shit about Kevin that makes me think She and I might agree in at least a few things She said that Kevin was responsible for protecting his family saying in her video posted after Ruby Ruby's arrest

It was Kevin's job to check in on things and he did not bingo Kevin's attorney addressed her claim saying, I think she admits that she too was out of the loop and had not had any contact with the children herself. Well yeah, but she's not one of their parents. You dumb fuck. However, Kevin is more interested in reaching out to his children, family, and friends to heal the past trauma and events. Kevin is making an effort to rebuild and bridge these relationships rather than sling mud and point fingers. He's focused on doing what is best for his kids at this point, even if that means undergoing some introspection.

None of that process, however, is going to be creating more distance between him and his family, including his extended family. He wishes Bonnie and her family well as we all travel down this path of healing. That's a very diplomatic response, but dude still abandoned his youngest kids when they needed him the most. In October Fox News reported that Kevin allegedly wanted to have his estranged daughter Sherry arrested for burglary after he claims the police broke into his home to serve a warrant with her present. After Ruby was arrested the police searched her home in Springville Kevin filed a report saying that electronics were stolen and he suspected Sherry was responsible. Kevin was then informed the police did execute a proper

search warrant and she didn't steal shit. He wanted to have his daughter arrested. I started following Sherry on Instagram and she just seems like a super wholesome sweet young person. I know that, you know, that looks appearances can be deceiving, but still he's Kevin's daughter and he and he seems to me just like a douchebag every time he talks. And I don't admittedly know a ton about him but I watched a video of him doing what I thought was fake crying. He seems to me to be fake crying in front of some Utah lawmakers blaming them for the system that allowed his youngest kids to be abused. Even though in my mind, he is far more responsible than the state for his kids being abused because he just fucking just bailed on him. And he has

never to my knowledge spoken publicly about how he should have and importantly how he could have done so much more himself. I also just find his face to be very punchable. Kevin filed for divorce from Ruby in November of 2023. Also filed a domestic relations injunction, which orders him not to harass each other or disparage each other in front of the kids. One more note about Kevin. In a fucking crazy interview with NBC, he claimed that Jodie Hildebrandt was possessed by demons.

Like actual demons. And he said that he was her exorcist. Even though he's not trained in that for a while. When she stayed in he and Ruby's home for a time, Kevin said he personally witnessed Hildebrandt at times go into possession mode and talk in different voices. It was really creepy, he said,

but the voices would say, she's ours. We're not letting go. She is Satan's bride. Kevin said he visited Hildebrandt's home for the first time in May of 2021 when she opened up to the couple about her struggles. That was when he noticed quote, crashes in the basement while we were talking upstairs

and plates in the kitchen just flying off by themselves like full speed smashing on the wall, falling to the floor by themselves. Eventually he said he reluctantly agreed to take Hildebrandt into his and Ruby Frankie's home. And then he saw Hildebrandt go into trances. He said, the moment she showed up at my house, just the weirdest crap started happening.

Lights turning on and off, sounds of people walking in walls, like footprints going up walls across the ceiling, stuff floating around. He said, it was weird and I hated it when I became the resident exorcist. He said Ruby had begun going into her own trances by September of 2021, during which she allegedly believed she was in heaven speaking with God and Jesus, as one does. He claimed she and Hildebrandt would lock themselves into a room for hours, after which he said Ruby Franke would tell him about her visions and the work that God had called upon him to do. What the fuck was happening with his family?

This makes me hate Kevin even more. Right? If he thought Jodie was literally possessed by demons or just batshit insane, but if there's crazy paranormal shit going on around her or she's just making this stuff, why on earth would he allow this person to continue counting his family? And if it was because Ruby insisted that they continue to see her, then why wouldn't he secretly go to a lawyer, get a good lawyer, work to build a case against her as a very unfit mother, which she was, and get your kids safely out of that mess? But he didn't do any of that. When we're the law the firm represented Ruby issued a

statement on December 15th last year announcing that Ruby would agree to plead guilty to four counts of child abuse in exchange for two counts being dropped. In the statement Ruby's attorney said that she was a devoted mother who was taken advantage of by Jodie Hildebrandt. Initially Ms. Franke believed that Jodie Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement. Ms. Hildebrandt took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous. And of course, right? How stereotypical. Ruby refusing to take true accountability for what she did.

No one put a gun to her head, made her a line with Jodie, and she was a terrible mom before she met Jodie. When people don't take personal responsibility for shit like this, it just leads me to think that they're never going to change and get better. Why would they? It's not their fault. Ruby said through her attorneys that Jodie systematically, Ruby Frankly, separated 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.

They added that Ruby had engaged in introspection, understood the full weight of her actions, and wanted to take responsibility. Demonstrating a sincere dedication to personal growth and rehabilitation, she has actively begun the process by reaching out to members of her family. Through heartfelt apology, she seeks to mend relationships that contribute positively to the healing journey of her family. Eh, not enough for me. she seeks to mend relationships to contribute positively to the healing journey of her family. Not enough for me. Maybe she should have led with, Ruby understands that at the end of the day, the only person really responsible when it comes to the heinous abuse inflicted upon her children

is none other than herself. She understands that what she chose to do is unforgivable, and she will regret her actions for the rest of her days. She intends to spend the rest of her life doing the best she can to be the mother her children deserved all along, and while she could never undo the past harm she specifically caused, she can at the very least be committed to not further harming the people she agreed to protect the moment she became a mother. On December 18, 2023, Ruby Franke pled guilty to four felony counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse. When pleading guilty to the fourth count, Ruby told the court, with my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty. As part of her plea, Ruby agreed to testify against Jody Hildebrandt, and the Washington

County Attorney's Office agreed to remain neutral regarding future parole hearings. She also agreed to serve a consecutive prison term for all four counts. Her plea agreement also revealed disturbing details about the abuse her kids suffered, which started in late March and continued for three months. In regards to count one, Ruby admitted to torturing her kids in multiple ways, including kicking the victim while wearing boots, holding the victim's head underwater, and cutting off the child's oxygen supply by covering their mouth and nose. Both victims were forced to do physical tasks for hours and days at a time, such as carrying boxes full of books up and down the stairs and working outside in the sun.

One child was forced to do labor outside without his shoes in the summer heat. He was forced to stand in direct sunlight for several days, forced to remain outside all day and night for extended periods of time, which resulted in blistering, sloughing sunburns. The child was denied adequate water for several days and was punished when he drank water in secret. The children were isolated from others, had no access to books, notebooks, electronics, or other forms of entertainment. The documents say that the abuse was mostly the same for both

children, but one victim experienced a separate form of abuse and that would be her son Russell. After Russell attempted to run away in July, his hands and feet were regularly bound, he was tied to weights, two sets of handcuffs were used on his wrists and ankles. At times he was lying on his stomach and ropes were tied to the handcuffs so his arms and lower legs were lifted off the ground. The handcuffs cut through his skin and damaged muscle and tissue. Jodie Hildebrandt was the one who put the ropes around the kids and she used cayenne pepper and honey to treat the wounds, which is needlessly painful and medically dangerous, which were covered with duct tape before the bindings were put back

on. Count Two stated the victim suffered severe emotional harm. Ruby admitted that starting on May 22, she and another adult regularly sought to indoctrinate the victim 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 according to the agreement. He was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of love. According to Count 3, the second victim was told she was evil and possessed, and punishments were necessary for her to be obedient and repent.

The victim's feet were repeatedly injured because she was made to run barefoot on dirt roads as a punishment. She suffered sunburns, and Ruby denied her adequate food and water. These poor kids, 12 and under, when all this is going on. December 27th, Jodie Hildebrandt followed suit, pled guilty to four felony counts on second degree aggravated child abuse in another plea bargain.

February 20th of this year, Ruby, Frankie and Jodie were sentenced to four consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years each and back to back hearings. They will not serve more than 30 years because of Utah law regarding consecutive sentences. Ruby said at her hearing, it is important to me to demonstrate my remorse and regret without blame. I take full accountability for my choices and it is my preference that I serve a prison sentence. Okay Ruby, I still won't feel an ounce of sadness for you if you get like, you know, I don't

know, fucking beaten to death in prison, but at least you said something decent for once. Ruby also said, I was led to believe that this world was an evil place filled with cops who control, hospitals that injure, government agencies that brainwash, church leaders who lie and lust, husbands who refuse to protect, and children who need abuse. Jodie received the same sense, and she didn't have much to say. She just said she desired for the victims to heal physically and emotionally. And Jodie can go fuck herself. Today, Kevin Franke has not been charged with any crimes related to the case,

which has pissed off a lot of people who have followed their story online for years. Ruby's journal entries and other evidence was released March 22, 2024. It brought further details of this abuse to light. R is her youngest son Russell in these entries. E is her youngest daughter Eve. Here's some of the entries. 6 30 23. R refuses to do wall sits. He says he is done. 7 14 23. E refuses to work. Screams. Has hair shaved off. 7 15 23. R runs away around 1 15 a.m. Ruby finds him at 3 14 a.m. And yes Ruby is referring to herself in the third person for some reason and that is we

can just add that to the list of reasons not to like her. July 9th 2023 R turns 12 tomorrow. I never envisioned him being 12 and still pooping and peeing himself. Satanic choices lead one to becoming destitute, even in the most affluent homes. Is he soiling himself because of his satanic choices? Or is this trauma response? Is he pissing and shitting himself because he's been physically and psychologically tortured? I wonder. July 10, 2023. It's R's birthday and he doesn't even know what month it is. Me and R have been in so much deviant behavior they won't control their bodily functions. They are both furious their selfish sinful lifestyle is being intervened upon.

I told R he emulates a snake. He slithers and sneaks around looking for opportunities when no one is watching and then he scurries. If he wants to emulate the savior he needs to be a hundred percent obedient with exactness. No wavering, no hiding. I told R that he needs God. I invited him to fast and pray pray R is in and out of possession He is workable and calm for a bit and then angry and deviant the next He is better behaved with Jodie. She likes to think she can still manipulate me I gave her a pixie haircut all her long hair is gone. No more distracting with her hair R told me he would rather have a glass of water than me as his mother.

God, if only he could have traded his mom for a glass of water. In an entry from July, Ruby described holding her son's head under water, closing off his airways with her hands. She told him the devil would lie and say that she is hurting him, but she is trying to save him. She wrote about withholding food and water from her child, saying, I will not feed feed a demon and I hope her kids cut her out of their lives forever. That's too much. She does not deserve forgiveness. In April this year Kevin Franke sued Jodie Hildebrandt on account of the emotional and physical abuse that she inflicted upon his children and if he wins he better give every fuck and send of that money to those kids and

keep nothing for himself. This fucked up case has called into question for many the dangers of family vlogging and the potential harm that can be caused by therapy based not in science, but in religion. Yeah, ding, ding, ding. When the fuck are more people gonna wake up and realize you should not lean on religion for shit like family and marital counseling?

No religious text should be your primary source of wisdom and knowledge when it comes to something like how to raise your kids. And if you disagree, let me ask you this. If you need to have a complicated surgery, would you rather have a surgeon who studies the Bible every night, considers religion more important than science? Or would you want a surgeon who studies peer-reviewed medical journals every night and considers science more important than religion? I'm picking the science surgeon a thousand out of a thousand times. And I think most people, even religious people, would also do that. So why do so many people still look to the Bible or other religious texts for child-rearing advice as opposed to modern science?

A lot of longitudinal studies have been done in recent decades that confirm that certain parenting techniques and styles are for sure objectively better than others. It is not subjective. It is thoroughly studied fact. The tools are already out there if you just want to find and use them. In addition to remind us how fucked up religion-based counting can be, the case of Ruby Franke also exposed the dark side of family-based social media content. Many families, like the Franke family, seem happy and functional in their videos, but are they really? Or are they just people acting happy and wholesome because they'll get their asses beat in some cases? You know if the cameras or once the cameras are turned off if they don't. You just never know what goes on behind closed doors. And

that is it for this maybe heavier than normal edition of Time Sucks, Short Sucks. Whoo that video got me. Really, really got me. Poor little kids. If you enjoyed this story, check out the rest of the Bad Magic catalog, beefier episodes of Time Suck every Monday at noon Pacific time. New episodes of the now long running paranormal podcast Scared to Death every Tuesday at midnight.

With two episodes of Nightmare Fuel, some fictional horror thrown into the mix each month. Big thanks to Olivia Lee for the initial research on this one. And thanks to Logan Keith making sure today's episode sounds as good as possible. Please go to BadMagicProductions.com for all your bad magic needs and you know what? Why don't you have yourself a great weekend? Add Magic Productions