Ruby Franke was sentenced to prison on Tuesday for abusing her two youngest children, nearly six months after her son fled Jodi Hildebrandt’s house and called 911 from a neighbor’s house.
Franke’s business partner Hildebrandt was also given a jail sentence on Tuesday.
Both, Franke, and Hildebrandt plead guilty.
According to KUTV, a CBS News station, Franke has been sentenced to four consecutive jail terms, which may vary in length from one to fifteen years each.
The mother of six, Franke, attracted millions of fans to her YouTube channel, ‘8 Passengers.’
According to reports, Franke’s 12-year-old kid managed to get away and went to a nearby house to beg for food and drink. The youngster had tape on his wrists and ankles, and the neighbor reported to 911 that he had “deep lacerations from being tied up with rope.”
“I think he’s been — he’s been detained,” the 911 caller said, “He’s obviously covered in wounds.”
In addition to additional instances of “physical torture,” state prosecutors claimed that Hildebrandt and Franke kept the kids in a “concentration camp-like setting” where they were frequently deprived of food, drink, and sleeping quarters.
Franke expressed regret for “twisting God’s words and distorting His doctrine” following the judge’s imposition of the highest sentence permitted by Utah state law.
“I sincerely loved these children,” Hildebrandt said, “One of the reasons I didn’t go to trial is I didn’t want them to relive this.”
Credit: CBS, ABC, The Independent, Page Six