Popular parent blogger Ruby Franke sentenced to consecutive prison terms for 4 counts of aggravated child abuse
Ruby Franke looks on during court Tuesday
By Laura Studley, CNN
(CNN) — Ruby Franke, a mother and popular web personality who pleaded guilty last year to four counts of aggravated child abuse, was sentenced to four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in a Utah prison Tuesday.
“My charges are just,” Franke said at the sentencing. “They offer safety to my family, accountability to the public, and they did show mercy to me.”
Franke, 42, had vlogged the abuse of her children on her now-deleted YouTube channel “8 Passengers.” She was arrested in August after her 12-year-old son ran away and asked a neighbor to call police.
Franke was initially charged with six counts but pleaded not guilty to two of the counts as part of a plea deal to testify against her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, who was also charged with aggravated child abuse but also reached a plea agreement, prosecutors said.
The abuse included denying Franke’s children food and water, kicking her son while wearing boots and depriving him of oxygen, according to court documents.
Franke told her children the punishments were needed for them to be obedient and repent, the court documents said. They also stated she “intentionally or knowingly inflicted and allowed another adult to inflict serious physical injuries.”
“For the past four years, I’ve chosen to follow counsel and guidance that has led me into a dark delusion,” Franke said. “My distorted version of reality went largely unchecked as I would isolate from anyone who challenged me.”
Hildebrandt also was sentenced Tuesday and received the same sentences. They each have 30 days to file an appeal, the judge said.
“One of the reasons I did not go to trial… I did not want them to emotionally relive the experience, which would have been detrimental to them,” Hildebrandt told the court. “My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward to have beautiful lives.”
CNN’s Faith Karimi and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.
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