8 Disturbing Details in Ruby Franke's Guilty Plea Agreement

with my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children guilty Ruby Frankie has pled guilty in court to the abuse of her own children her plea agreement goes into detail about what she did to her kids and it is horrifying also what does this mean for a potential sentence we break it all down for you now welcome to sidebar presented by law on crime I'm Jesse Weber Ruby Frankie has a officially pled guilty this is a major development in a case that we have been following since August this case out of Utah Ruby Frankie has pled guilty now Ruby Frankie is the former YouTuber who alongside her husband Kevin created a now defunct channel on the platform called Eight passengers this was a very popular Channel it documented the lives of the couple along with their six children it had over 2 million subscribers but it didn't come without controversy no viewers took major issues with how ru was parenting or maybe I should say disciplining her kids so in our house we when we take something away it's because they have shown that they are not responsible enough to manage it and so we don't just turn around and give it back as soon as they start acting good has to be consistent it has to be consistent over a minimum minimum of 6 months I know that her teacher is uncomfortable able with her being hungry and not having a lunch and it would ease her discomfort if I came to the school with a lunch um but I I responded and just said Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning and she actually told me she did pack a lunch so the natural outcome is she's just going to need to be hungry now at one point Ruby ended up partnering up with a woman named jod hildbrand who was offering these life coaching Services through an organization known as Connections in fact Ruby was listed as a certified mental fitness trainer on the connections website but in August she and hilderbrandt were each arrested and each charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse of Frankie's two young children who were staying at hild De Brandt's Place her 12-year-old son managed to escape hild de Brandt's home ran to a neighbor who called 911 911 the address of your emergency I just had a 12 year old boy show up here at my front door asking for help we know there's been problems at this neighbor's house he's emaciated he's got tape around his legs he's hungry and he's thirsty now the boy was reportedly emaciated with wounds and there was evidence that he'd been tied up his then nine-year-old sister we believe that she's 10 now uh her Ruby's daughter was reportedly found in the house in similar condition she was taken to the hospital to be treated for malnourishment Ruby jod they were each arrested they were charged with six counts of aggravated child abuse our understanding that each count could be a Max of 15 years in prison and by the way Kevin ended up filing for divorce from Ruby and according to his lawyer he had been living separately from her for over a year before her arrest okay so then right before the weekend started we learned from Frankie's Law Firm Woodward Law that Ruby was going to enter a plea on Monday December 18th there were apparently negotiations happening behind the scenes with the Prosecutors office office there was supposed to be a waiver hearing on December 18th we had speculated well what could this be a waiver hearing of course is where a defendant in Utah can wave a preliminary hearing a hearing where prosecutor will present all their evidence to a judge to determine if there is enough evidence to go forward number of reasons why you'd want a waiver hearing one of them is if you end up entering into a plea and you no longer need a trial and what was particularly interesting in the statement that was released by her law firm in anticipation of this plea deal was who she was blaming I'm going to highlight one interesting part she says quote Ruby Frankie is a devoted mother and is also a woman committed to constant Improvement initially Miss Frankie believed that jod hilderbrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual Improvement Miss hilderbrandt took advantage of this Quest and twisted it into something heinous over an extended period Miss hilderbrand systematically isolated Ruby Frankie from her extended family older children and her husband Kevin Frankie this prolonged isolation resulted in Miss Franky being subjected to a distorted sense of morality shaped by Miss hilderbrand's influence so really putting the blame in a way on jod very very interesting now with all that in mind let's get into what happened Ruby Frankie officially pled guilty in the fifth district court in Washington County Utah in front of Judge John J Walton she pled guilty to four of the six charges four counts of aggravated child child abuse each one a second degree felony Miss Frankie how do you plead to count one aggravated child abuse a second degree felony guilty to count three aggravated child abuse a second degree felony guilty to count five aggravated child abuse a second degree felony guilty and to count six aggravated child abuse a second degree felony with my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children guilty now two of the charges were dropped counts two and four in the original information remember I said she was originally charged with six counts well two were dropped and these counts were about abuse of both of the kids where the physical injuries resulted in Starvation or failure to thrive or malnutrition that jeopardized the child's life now I wonder if since this was a plea deal the prosecution just agreed to drop something and maybe these two charges were duplicative of the other counts doesn't seem to me that they were tough to prove as you will see in a minute but either way what Frankie pled guilty to is incredibly serious as you're about to hear we all know how much these cases really emphasize how scary the world can be and how unsafe it can be that's why I 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sidebar or by dialing pound law that's pound 529 on your phone so I'm going to go through this plea agreement with you we have a copy and what I'm about to read to you is what Frankie is agreeing she did remember that she is admitting to these crimes okay so it starts from approximately May 22nd 2023 until August 30th 2023 so now we have a date range 3 months of this abuse in Washington County Utah the defendant Ruby Frankie intentionally or knowingly inflicted and allowed another adult to inflict serious physical injuries upon her children that were ages nine EF and 11 to 12 RF as more fully described below so she didn't just do it herself but she seemingly allowed jod to do it too now again it's important when you look at the ages here uh seemingly 9 years old for the daughter 11 to 12 for the son seems to me like this might have happened before and through his own birthday let's get into it count one is the longest and I warn right now this is incredibly difficult to hear count one is aggravated child abuse of RF her 11 12-year-old son and it's about physical injury that includes physical torture this is what it says count one the defendant's actions involve the physical torture of RF initially RF was forced to do physical tasks for hours and days at a time these included walls sits carrying boxes full of books up and downstairs and working outside eventually RF was forced to do outside labor without shoes and in the summer heat he was forced to stand in the direct sunlight for several days he was forced to remain outside at all hours of the day and night for extended periods of time these actions resulted in repeated and serious sunburns with blistered and sloughing skin RF was denied adequate water for several of the days he was required to remain in the summer heat and was punished when he secretly consumed water he was denied sufficient food and when given food he was given very plain meals example rice and chicken While others in the house ate regular and more flavorful meals he was isolated from other people and denied all forms of entertainment including books notebooks and electronics in addition after RF attempted to run away in July his hands and feet were regularly bound binding included being tied to the defendant and to wait many times The Binding included using two sets of handcuffs one on rf's wrists and one on his ankles again very consistent with what we've heard so far about his injuries at times with RF lying on his stomach ropes were used to tie the two sets of handcuffs together so that his arms and lower legs were lifted off the ground the bindings resulted in injuries to rf's wrists and ankles were the handcuffs cut through the skin and damaged the muscle tissue these injuries were treated with homeopathic remedies and covered with duct tape that's when we heard about the cayenne pepper being used then the bindings were placed on top of the duct tape as if that wasn't horrifying enough it goes on to say again all part of count one physical torture specific instances of abuse committed by the defendant include one kicking RF while wearing boots two holding his head underwater and three cutting off oxygen by placing her hands over his mouth and nose I tell you right now I'm not going to lie to you that is actually worse than what I thought we were dealing with I didn't know any of that I don't think any of us really knew any of that you know it seems to me one of the reasons the starvation charges were dropped is because it was duplicative of this conduct you might not have needed that after everything we just heard and it does make me wonder if that account everything that we just heard was not only determined from the physical evidence the physical examinations of the kids what the kids ended up saying to law enforcement and medical professionals but maybe Ruby Frankie herself what she admitted to doing I mean again this is her admitting to what she did personally and what she allowed to happen we're going to talk about punishment a little later but just keep all that in mind that description and keep in mind too when we talk about her putting the blame on jod there's the second count which actually was count three in the original information document but this is the second count that she's pleading guilty to and this count is about aggravated child abuse on RF her son but it's about physical injury causing emotional harm count two the actions described above cause severe emotional harm to RF due to the fact that they began in May and escalated through the summer months clearly understandable additionally the defendant and another adult presumably jod regularly sought to indoctrinate RF and convince him that he was evil and possessed and that he needed to willingly be obedient to avoid punishments and that the punishments were necessary to repent he was also told that everything that was being done to him were acts of Love yeah that level of manipulation that again is so consistent with what we've heard about from alleged victims of jod hildbrand including her niece Jesse who we interviewed in October so she strips you by identity she strips you of credibility and she isolates and so she is saying everything that you say is a lie everything that you say is is manipulation you're manipulating everyone around you you're lying and destroying everyone's life and she would tell me all the time if you just confess I will stop you confess I will stop which is torture again it's almost verbatim to what this description was about what these kids had to endure and I said kids because now let's move on to the third count we talked about the son now let's talk about the daughter so this was the third count that Ruby is pleading guilty to but this was actually count five in the original information and this is about the abuse of EF Ruby's then 9-year-old daughter and this is injury resulting in emotional harm count three the defendant's actions also cause severe emotional harm to EF other than binding and the specific instances of abuse RF was subjected to EF was subjected to the same treatment as her brother she was isolated and forced to do the physical tasks remain outside and denied food and water she was also repeatedly told she was evil and possessed the punishments were necessary for her to be obedient and to repent and these things were being done to her in order to help her EF was convinced that she was evil and needed to go through these things in order to repent can we just understand for a minute what these kids psychologically now have to go through to not accept what happened to them I mean that is a clear example of what we've talked about with other victims of abuse that they think they did something wrong think about what these kids went through let's go to the fourth count again this is the last count that Ruby Frankie pled guilty to this is actually number six in the original information and this was about abuse of EF that constituted physical injury that includes multiple injuries count four the defendant's actions cause two or more physical injuries to EF she was forced to work outside in the heat Barefoot she was also forced to run Barefoot on dirt roads for an extended period of time remember this was during the summer ef's feet were repeatedly injured by and she was repeatedly sunburned when examined on August 30th these wounds were apparent by scabs blisters and sloughing skin I don't know if there's even more I have to say here but so what we have here is repeated physical abuse and injuries not isolated incidents they both suffered they both suffered tremendously it is horrifying stuff which leads me to an important part of this plea agreement document so as part of this deal Ruby Frankie agrees to give up her constitutional rights the rights to a jury trial to call witnesses to testify at her trial to appeal but now let's get into the consequences for entering a plea now there's nothing in here that prosecutors and attorneys worked out regarding a determined sentence like and in light of this you're now going to we agree to 6 months in prison now instead let me read this to you I know the maximum sentence that may be imposed for each crime to which I am pleading guilty I know that by pleading guilty to a crime that carries a mandatory penalty I will be subjecting myself to serving a mandatory penalty for that crime I know my sentence may include a prison term fine or both I know that in addition to a 90% sir charge will be imposed I also know that I'm may be ordered to make restitution to any victim victims of my crimes including any restitution that may be owed on charges that are dismissed as part of a plea agreement I know that if there is more than one crime involved the sentences may be imposed one after another consecutively or they may run at the same time concurrently so it is up to the judge to determine what the sentence will be and theoretically it could be the maximum of 15 years years in prison on each to run consecutively one after the other now I don't think that's going to happen but in light of what she plad guilty to and what she admitted my opinion there is no way she isn't getting prison time in my mind no way this is horrific H and as much as she puts the blame on jod she admitted to directly engaging in this behavior and allowing this to happen to her kids and for a prolonged period of time 3 months in the hot summer in fact let me add this too it says in this agreement quote the defendant agrees to serve a prison term and the sentences for each count are to be served consecutive to each other it seems to me that is something we may see so even if it is one year in prison that's a minimum of four years in prison theoretically that's what we could be looking at she could be looking at more I'm just reading the th leaves from this agreement we will wait to see what happens but I do want to move on to another big point in this plea agreement the defendant agrees to testify truthfully against jod hilderbrand and in return the Washington County Attorney's Office agrees to remain neutral regarding future hearings before the Utah Board of Pardons and parols so in other words she will be a state's witness she will testify against jod hilderbrand in exchange that the prosecution will not seek to keep her in prison at a later parole hearing I I that's what we were expecting to hear that that is a very very big deal because you would want to give Ruby Frankie a plea deal and I imagine that's maybe why they dropped two of these counts you want her to be the state's star witness against her co-defendant jod hilderbrand so you drop two charges maybe secure some sort of lenient sentence that puts pressure on jod though to maybe take a deal too having Ruby testify against you is not great and it also seems that you would want Ruby to testify so as maybe not have the kids be forced to testify about what they endured you always want to avoid minor Witnesses testifying if you can that is extremely painful for them and from a credibility point of view those who suffer abuse at such a young age it can make it very difficult to remember certain details so having Ruby Be Your Star witness makes sense now I will say could this help jod hild debrand will she want to fight this could she say hey Ruby just admitted to everything she did I had no part in this it's going to be very very hard to argue that given what we have just read and the evidence in this case so far but something to think about now there's a part that Ruby can withdraw The Plea before the sentence or sentencing is set for February 20th we will make sure to cover that here on sidebar but as for jod hildbrand she has a waiver hearing scheduled for December 27th will she plead guilty will that hearing be delayed will she merely wave her right to a preliminary hearing we shall see the game has changed though now that Ruby did this and by the way here was the prosecutor Eric Clark after the hearing uh where they held a pressor talking about this this morning Ruby frankly pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse she will remain incarcerated awaiting sentencing which will occur and I the the date was February 20th I I believe we are pleased that Mrs Frankie has accepted responsibility for criminal actions and that Justice is being served to the extent possible in this type of a situation we are grateful for the law enforcement officers case workers Children's Justice Center staff and others that have been instrumental in the fair and Speedy resolution of this case because the alleged facts of the ongoing case involving Jody hillerbrand are intertwined with this case our office will not be making additional statements to the media at this time definitely a win for the prosecution and there you have it Ruby Frankie has plad guilty she will be sentenced and we will see what happens next with jod Hildebrand that is all we C right now here on sidebar everybody thank you so much for joining us please subscribe on Apple podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get your podcast I'm Jesse Weber speak to you next [Music] time

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 842,336

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network

Id: nvYCwviQEOk

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 19 2023