Ruby Franke (and Jodi) held without bail - aggravated child abuse

[CoolDad]

Yesterday Ruby Franke was detained by several law enforcement agencies in Utah. Together with Jodi Hildebrandt. Both were charged with two counts of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse.
8 passenger kids were found with clear signs of abuse.

"The calling party stated the juvenile appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities," a statement from local authorities reads.

-> https://www.fox13now.com/news/crime/chi ... -for-abuse

[CoolDad]

From Shari's Instagram (yesterday):


Shari asking for help (today):


From Ruby's sisters on instagram:

8 Passengers' mom, business partner who founded counseling program arrested in child abuse case

-> https://kutv.com/amp/news/local/youtube ... hild-abuse

[CoolDad]

I cannot say it is a full surprise. In a way I think we all could foreseen this coming. But honestly if the alleged crimes were committed and the news descriptions are true I was not expecting this level of torture on the kids.

I estimate that 99% of the parents are good enough on parenting, but, the 1% that are not is concerning. And it is on that 1% that we, as a society, must work for and with.
Kids are not parents/guardian property. They can't be kept away from society. Where social services, health care and education exists it needs to be mandatory the kids presence regularly for a check.
I do not agree with homeschool, but if it is legal on a country a mandatory in person check must be held every couple of months, both to check kids learning process and wellbeing. Same is true for health check (and social services if they were referenced before).
If a kid vanish or stops from appearing on those in person checks, law enforcement agencies should be alerted and parents/guardians be looked upon and be accountable.

We can't keep saying that children are our future and our most precious treasure and at the same time don't do enough or even the bare minimum to protect them against abuse and neglect, from others but most important from the immediate persons that should defend and protect them on the first place.

[gopedjane]

I find it interesting with the siblings like Ellie speaking out like they were involved in this happening when it sounds like some of the children escaped and went to get help from the neighbours.

This is so much worse than I would have ever thought, they were duct taped and malnourished.

Incredibly sad and horrific

[CoolDad]

Santa Clara-Ivins public safety department press release:

=> https://www.facebook.com/SCIPublicSafet ... EAkYN2iHAl

__________________________________________________________

More on the news:

"Ruby Franke's sisters released an Instagram statement saying her arrest on suspicion of child abuse 'needed to happen' and that 'the kids are now safe'"

in Insider: => https://www.insider.com/ruby-franke-8-p ... mon-2023-8

FOUR CHILDREN FOUND MALNOURISHED IN SOUTHERN UTAH

=> https://890kdxu.com/four-children-found ... hern-utah/

[athyker]

I'd love to say I'm surprised, but I am definitely not.

I have worried about those kids for years. Years.

The sad thing? Ruby will say her kids, the cops, and Judge are all living in distortion.

[ThisIsMeCeej]

I am so happy Ruby was finally taken into custody! I hope she's given the maximum she can be given, along with Jodi. I hope Shari can finally be reunited with her siblings, and they can heal from all of this.

[seriously7]

I was stunned to see this pop up on YouTube. I can even believe this, I watched them for years. Whatever happened to the Dad?

[athyker]

I was stunned to see this pop up on YouTube. I can even believe this, I watched them for years. Whatever happened to the Dad?

Allegedly they've separated and he has Chad with him. I have no solid proof of this other than what I've seen on the ticking tok.
Also allegedly he was arrested in another County. I haven't seen the proof of that either.

I'm just so shocked Ruby has lost her marriage, lost her oldest daughter (who doesn't speak to her), and now is in jail. Yet I believe without a doubt this will not wake her up to her possibly doing something wrong. Someone like her believes what she's doing is right. Even after all this.

Jodi is bad, bad, news.

[athyker]

I am so happy Ruby was finally taken into custody! I hope she's given the maximum she can be given, along with Jodi. I hope Shari can finally be reunited with her siblings, and they can heal from all of this.

I think Bonnie may have the kids and am hopeful that Shari will get to see them. Shari was on Instagram asking for help to build the case. A Google spreadsheet and all. I hope and pray those kids do not go back to Ruby or Kevin. I don't believe for one second she ever wanted them anyway. Sadly

[WriteMeOut]

We all knew Ruby was a whackjob. She was clearly a narcissist and there was manipulation and tactics used in the home that were (at the very least) bordering on abuse, or would at minimum result in lasting emotional trauma in the children. And this is coming from someone who never really watched them. I just checked them out occasionally because of her relation to E+J. But HOLY SH*T. This is shocking. Duct tape and OPEN WOUNDS? Presumed from the child's alleged escape from a window? Absolutely horrifying. I hope and pray those children receive the care and support they need, and then some. There are no words.

Comments on Ellie's IG post seem to indicate the child who escaped was a boy. Does anyone know where that info is coming from? Also Kevin's attorney released a statement that he's focused on his kids right now. So hopefully that means they're at least with their dad? (Or is he in on it? Again never watched them much)

[ThisIsMeCeej]

We all knew Ruby was a whackjob. She was clearly a narcissist and there was manipulation and tactics used in the home that were (at the very least) bordering on abuse, or would at minimum result in lasting emotional trauma in the children. And this is coming from someone who never really watched them. I just checked them out occasionally because of her relation to E+J. But HOLY SH*T. This is shocking. Duct tape and OPEN WOUNDS? Presumed from the child's alleged escape from a window? Absolutely horrifying. I hope and pray those children receive the care and support they need, and then some. There are no words.

Comments on Ellie's IG post seem to indicate the child who escaped was a boy. Does anyone know where that info is coming from? Also Kevin's attorney released a statement that he's focused on his kids right now. So hopefully that means they're at least with their dad? (Or is he in on it? Again never watched them much)

I honestly hope wherever the kids are/end up, they don't get put back on social media.

[seriously7]

Were the only kids involved Ruby's kids? What about that nut that brainwashed Ruby, does she have kids too?

[CoolDad]

Comments on Ellie's IG post seem to indicate the child who escaped was a boy. Does anyone know where that info is coming from? Also Kevin's attorney released a statement that he's focused on his kids right now. So hopefully that means they're at least with their dad? (Or is he in on it? Again never watched them much)

From the police scanner we can clearly know names and ages of the minors, and that it was a 12 yo male named R. F. who went to a neighbor asking for help. BUT since this is now a criminal case and parents have no longer the custody of the children, privacy rules and we should assume that the state of Utah does not allow their identification to be shared online anymore.

I assume that CPS and/or a judge took both parents rights regarding their kids, otherwise even if they were not living together, they would remove the children from the mother into father temporary custody, but the public statement says that 4 kids are now being at the care of DCFS.
And, IMHO, I hope that the father does not get their custody never again too. For me he was conniving with all of this and on a tacit silent, i.e. omission.

Were the only kids involved Ruby's kids? What about that nut that brainwashed Ruby, does she have kids too?

Yes. If I recall correctly her kid(s) is an adult now.
____________________________________

I know we probably will have very poor coverage of the trial since we are talking of crimes against minors and they deserve maximum privacy, but I do hope that both Shari and Chad testimonials will be very important to the case. Both had showed on several vlogs a great level of justice and now that they are adults and safe, they might share a lot of valuable information and details.

@USA users: Do you know if it is possible in the US/Utah to have a court give an older adult sibling (if they request/accept of course) the custody of younger siblings TOGETHER with the family house and money from the arrested/condemned parents?
Kind of "divorce" and child support, instead of going to one of the parents it would go into the kids guardian, in this case an older sister, with court supervision until the youngest kid becomes adult.
Specially when we assume that the majority of the family income came from YouTube and the kids presence on the vlogs.

Second question: Does it make any sense/is it viable, to expect the state/public defender to backup and represent the kids (minors) on a civil case against their parents and ask for an indemnification?

I hope that both Shari and Chad have good legal counseling and that they also could find a reasonable price lawyer to represent them against their parents too, and ask for a good compensation. The money these parents have earn with their kids needs to be divided, and this looks like a great moment, because physical abuse might surpass but emotional and psychological abuse almost never gets overcomed, so money is indeed important to pay for therapy and help start a new live patern away from abusive parents.

[kittycat2]

Ruby’s court date is this Friday, September 8th. I heard that they’re allowed to use videos, both deleted and non deleted, against her. I hope they show every single video of her being abusive towards those poor children. I’m glad that Shari started that Google doc of evidence. Every new piece of information that comes out makes me feel so sick. Her and Jodi need to be behind bars for life