A court has sentenced infamous former YouTuber and “parenting advice” guru Ruby Franke to jail on child abuse charges. The judge John Walton sentenced her to four prison terms of one to 15 years, according to AP. This means that she could serve between four to sixty years for her crimes.
When news of this broke, several people took to social media to voice their opinions. This is because when Ruby was actively filing and uploading for her YouTube channel “8 Passengers,” people saw that her parenting methods were far from ideal.
She started vlogging her family life in 2015, taking in about 2.5 million subscribers at its peak. The infamous family channels showed Ruby, her husband Kevin, and their six children: Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve.
Even though her channel was quite popular, most of the comments they received were negative. This was because Ruby’s parenting methods were odd and hard. For example, she would refuse to give her child lunch if they forgot it at home.
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She would also refuse them food and make them sleep in bean bags if they committed an offense. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she often used scriptures to verify her terrible acts. Therefore, many people hated her channel and left serious comments.
Over the years, her methods only worsened. Soon, many people barely saw her kids anymore. She also stopped vlogging as much. Then she co-founded a parenting advice and support program, “ConneXions,” with Jodi Hildebrandt, which many people online call a “cult.”
Their “parenting tips and advice” were very harsh and extreme. Thankfully, fate finally caught up to Ruby when one of her kids crawled out of a window and ran to a neighbor’s home to beg for food and water. The neighbor saw the severely emancipated child and called the police immediately.
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The child also has duct tape on their hands and feet, showing that Ruby restrained them at home. When police arrived, they arrested Ruby in August 2023. They also found the other children who were also highly malnourished with open wounds in the house.
They took her and Hildebrandt into custody immediately. Her husband, Kevin, filed for divorce later that month. After a lot of deliberations, the court finally sentenced Ruby to prison for her horrendous acts.
Hildebrandt was not left out as she faced the same sentence as her business partner. Surprisingly, Ruby tried to blame Hildebrandt for all the abuse her children suffered. She claimed that she had brainwashed her, and she didn’t know what she was doing.
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“I’ll never stop crying for hurting your tender souls,” the mother of six said. “My willingness to sacrifice all for you was masterfully manipulated into something very ugly. I took from you all that was soft and safe and good.”
As Ruby is just one of many family bloggers who are exploiting their kids, the state of Illinois passed a law meant specifically to introduce protections for minors appearing on their parents’ monetized social media. Other states have since followed suit in passing or announcing intentions to pass similar laws.
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