Co-conspirators of Utah parenting blogger Ruby Franke and YouTube channel co-host Jodi Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse Wednesday as part of a plea deal.
Confessions of the women of St. The 45-year-old George came less than a week after Franke, 41, also pleaded guilty to four of six counts of second-degree aggravated child abuse in connection with the physical and emotional abuse of two of his six children, with help from Hildebrandt.
“As part of the plea agreement, Ms. Hildebrandt agreed to serve consecutive sentences as opposed to concurrent prison terms on each of the four counts,” Washington County District Attorney Eric Clarke said in a statement Wednesday. “One of the most difficult things we ask victims of alleged abuse to do is testify at the trial of their abuser. We are happy that in this case, and in the case of Ms. Franke, that was not necessary.”
Franke and Hildebrandt, who run a parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel together, were each charged with six counts of child abuse in September after police rescued Franke’s two children, who appeared malnourished and neglected, from Hildebrandt’s home on August 30.
“With deep regret and sadness for my family and my children, guilty,” Franke said when the judge asked how he pleaded to the final and sixth count of second-degree child abuse on Dec. 18.
Jodi Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four of six counts of aggravated child abuse. AP
The first charge of aggravated child abuse filed against Franke involved physically abusing a child, who was “forced to perform physical tasks for hours and days at a time,” including sitting against walls, carrying boxes full of books up and down stairs, and outdoor work without shoes, according to court documents.
“He had to stand in the sunlight for several days. He had to be outside at all hours of the day and night for long periods of time. These actions resulted in repeated and serious sunburns with blistering and peeling skin,” court documents state, adding that the child was also denied adequate food and water.
After the child tried to “run away in July, his hands and feet were often tied.”
Ruby Franke also pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse. AP
The second count involved severe emotional harm inflicted on the child. Franke and Hildebrandt tried to convince the boy that he was evil and possessed and “must obey willingly to avoid punishment.”
The third and fourth charges involved severe emotional injury inflicted on another child, who was “subjected to the same treatment as his brother: he was isolated and forced to perform physical tasks, was outside, and was denied food and water.”
Franke and Hildebrandt also tried to convince the second son mentioned in the document that he was evil and possessed and needed to be punished. He also had to “run barefoot on dirt roads for long periods of time.”
Both women are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20.
The Franke family in the photo. sharifranke/Instagram
A neighbor of Hildebrandt’s reported the abuse to police after one of Franke’s sons showed up on her doorstep.
“I just had a 12-year-old boy show up here on my doorstep asking for help, and he said he just came from the neighbor’s house, and we know there’s a problem at this neighbor’s house,” a man said in an August 911 Call reported the alleged abuse obtained by Fox News Digital. “He’s skinny. He has tape on his leg. He is hungry, and he is thirsty.”
The boy apparently told neighbors that although he was from the Hildebrandt house, his mother was Ruby Franke, who lived in another town. Police would later locate four more of Franke’s children at different locations, according to the police report. The boy also told police he climbed Hildebrandt’s window to escape and get help.
Franke with his two children. moms_of_truth/Instagram
After rescuing Franke’s youngest child from Hildebrandt’s home on Aug. 30, police from Springfield and other local agencies began searching for her four other children, who were not at Hildebrandt’s home at the time. They contacted the two oldest children, Chad and Shari Franke – both of whom lived away from home at the time of the incident – in an effort to find the other two teenagers.
Authorities eventually found the two children at another adult’s home in American Fork, Utah.
In a recent video posted on their joint YouTube channel, which has since been taken down, Hildebrandt said pain can be a good thing for children at a certain age.
“Pain is meant to be your teacher. It is not your enemy. It is your ally. Pain is not bad.… Pain is here to support you to grow and develop,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
