American YouTuber mother sentenced to prison: Reason is child abuse

42-year-old Ruby Franke produced parenting-related content in the YouTube videos she filmed with her children. Popular for her strict parenting advice, the creator frequently punished her children in her YouTube broadcasts and advised her viewers to discipline their own children using similar methods. Franke had more than two million followers on YouTube. Franke, who was tried on charges of abusing her children, was found guilty in court. 

Ruby Franke was tried in court alongside her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, with whom she produced content. The judge sentenced both individuals to the maximum penalty, ruling that they would serve four to 60 years in prison. When Franke and Hildebrandt will be released may change depending on the decisions of parole officers. However, they will spend at least the four-year minimum sentence set by the judge in prison.

In court, Utah prosecutor Eric Clarke stated that two of Franke's children, who were 9 and 11 years old at the time she was broadcasting, were kept in a 'concentration camp-like' environment. Describing Franke's YouTube broadcasts as a 'threat to society,' the prosecutor said, "The children were regularly deprived of food, water, beds to sleep in, and almost all forms of entertainment."

BROKE DOWN IN TEARS IN COURT

Following the verdict, Franke apologized to her children. Saying, "I was so disoriented that I believed darkness was light and right was wrong," Franke broke down in tears in court.

 In her defense, Franke stated, "I was led to believe that this world is an evil place filled with police who control, hospitals that hurt people, government agencies that brainwash, lustful and lying clergymen, and husbands who do not protect their families."

The two women were arrested in 2023 after Franke's 12-year-old son, who was suffering from malnutrition, escaped from Hildebrandt's house and asked neighbors for food and water.

News Source: 12punto