TRIGGER WARNING: The following story may be distressing to some readers as it tackles topics such as child abuse.
Ruby Franke, the 42-year-old mother of six who once had a parenting channel on YouTube who in December pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, was sentenced on Tuesday (Feb. 20) to 1 to 15 years in prison for each of those counts, to be served consecutively, with the maximum length of 30 years.
Frankie's business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, also received the same sentence, the New York Times reported.
While they have been sentenced, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole would determine the exact length of their sentences.
The court heard that Franke created a "concentration camp-like setting" for two of her children, aged nine and 11 at the time between May and August 2023. She regularly denied them adequate food, water, entertainment, and beds, as well as isolating them from their siblings and other people.
Franke also forced her children to do physical tasks in extreme heat, without shoes, socks, or water. The children were even beaten and bound by their hands and feet, resulting in severe injuries that required hospital treatment.
"Had the older of the children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call the police, heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived in that situation," Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke said.
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Franke became notorious for her YouTube channel called "8 Passengers," with videos documenting the lives of her six children and chronicling her parenting strategies, including punishing her children by withholding food. The channel had nearly 2.5 million subscribers before the platform took it down.
Franke and Heldebrandt - a life coach who previously ran ConneXions, a Mormon life coaching service she started in 2007 - were arrested in August.
For her part Franke expressed remorse for her actions and said that she took "full responsibility" for the choices she made.
"For the past four years, I've chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion," she confessed to the court Tuesday. "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"
