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A disgraced YouTuber and her business partner were sentenced to four consecutive sentences of one to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.
Ruby Franke posted parenting videos on her since-deled YouTube channel 8 Passengers and amassed over 2.5 million followers. In the videos, she provided parenting advice and even bragged about some of the abuse she put her kids through, claiming it was in response to their bad behavior.
Prosecutors said that while Franke appeared to be a good parent in front of the camera, she and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, brutally abused her six children behind the scenes.
During the sentencing hearing on Tuesday (February 20), Washington County attorney Eric Clarke said that the two women created a “concentration camp-like setting” for the kids. They refused to provide the children with food and water while forcing them to do physical tasks.
The children were also bound and beaten and, in some instances, required hospitalization.
Franke was exposed after her 12-year-old son ran away and asked a neighbor to call police.
“Had the older of the children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call the police, heaven only knows how much longer he could have survived in that situation,” Clarke said.