A mother and former YouTuber who was arrested last month and charged with six counts of felony child abuse claimed in a public courtroom on Thursday that one of her minor children had sexually abused their sibling and other minors in the neighborhood over the years.
Ruby Franke and her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested last month and charged with six counts of felony child abuse. One of Franke’s sons was discovered by a neighbor to be severely malnourished, with duct tape around his limbs.
The Daily Mail reported that Franke appeared in court virtually from a Utah jail, where she is currently being held with no bail.
The court hearing was presided over by Judge Suchada Bazzelle. Franke’s husband, Kevin Franke, was also in attendance, along with his attorney. Franke’s two oldest daughters were reportedly present for the hearing as well, along with what appeared to be their own attorney.
Franke appeared to place the blame for her horrific behavior on her children, claiming that one of her children had sexually abused some of the others. She went on to say that one of her children had started to look at pornography at just three years of an age.
One of the most shocking claims was that one of Franke’s children had abused a sibling for years, eventually leading to the two abusing other children. She also said her children played a “patting” game, but she did not elaborate on what it meant, according to the report.
Franke said one of her children admitted in May that they had sexually abused 20 people, including cousins and neighbors.
However, she did not provide any evidence for the claims.
The judge responded by saying that her alleged abusive child “will then need to be placed in a home with no other children.”
An attorney who was in the courtroom reportedly requested to hear more details about the molestation of another child, as the mother of one of the alleged victims was present. But the judge declined the request, saying the details could be heard at a future date.
Judge Bazzelle set the date for a mediation hearing on September 15, and then a pre-trial hearing on September 18.
The judge told Franke that if she is released from jail, she will need to attend the hearings in person.
Franke first rose to prominence as a YouTuber with a strict parenting style, which apparently made her “millions” of dollars. She reeled in more than 2.2 million subscribers as a daily video blogger during that time.
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