YouTube influencers convicted of aggravated child abuse in Ivins appear for sentencing

Written by Cody Blowers
February 20, 2024

ST. GEORGE — Two women known for their mental health and child-rearing YouTube and social media content appeared Tuesday for sentencing on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.

Defense attorney Lamar Winward and defendant Ruby Franke look on during a sentencing hearing in 5th District Court, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2024 | Photo by Sheldon Demke, St. George News

The defendants, Ruby Franke, 41, of Springville, and Jodi Ann Hildebrandt, 55, of Ivins, were facing four second-degree felony counts of aggravated child abuse. They were sentenced to consecutive prison sentences of 1-15 years on each count.

Judge John J. Walton of the 5th District Court in St. George presided over the sentencing hearing. The state was represented by Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke and Prosecutor Ryan Shaum. Franke was represented by defense attorney Lamar Winward and Hildebrandt was represented by defense attorney Douglas Terry.

The charges were filed against the pair in connection with an Aug. 30, 2023, emergency call about a malnourished boy who showed up at an Ivins residence asking for food and water. A search of Hildebrandt’s nearby residence revealed a second younger child, who was also found in a malnourished condition, as previously reported by St. George News.

Both children were transported to the hospital by ambulance.

Franke, the children’s mother who lived in the home with Hildebrandt and co-hosted the now-deactivated YouTube channel ConneXions, was reportedly seen in a video filmed in a downstairs room two days before the 911 call. This led investigators to suspect the women were aware of the abuse. Investigators say they later learned Franke used ropes to keep the children tied to the ground.

A comprehensive summary of the case and additional background information of both defendants was included in a report previously published by St. George News.

Sentencing

During the sentencing hearing held Tuesday, Clarke said the state’s position was that Franke and her business partner Hildebrandt both committed “horrible acts of child abuse.”

Between May and August 2023, Clarke said, the two defendants forced the children, ages 9 and 12, to endure a “concentration camp-like setting,” where they were regularly denied food, water and beds to sleep in. The children were deprived of virtually all forms of entertainment and were isolated from others and hidden from anyone who visited the home in Ivins.

The victims were also forced to complete physical tasks,  such as carrying loaded boxes up and down stairs and performing manual labor outdoors in the extreme summer heat, without any shoes or socks. In addition to the physical abuse, he said, the children were emotionally abused to the extent that each believed to some degree that they deserved what was being done to them. 

“Had the older of the children not had the courage to run away and ask a neighbor to call police, then heaven only knows how much longer they could have survived in that situation,” Clarke said.

Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke addresses the court during the sentencing hearing of defendant Ruby Franke, 41, at 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2024 | Photo by Sheldon Demke, St. George News

To Hildebrandt specifically, Clarke said the defendant committed awful acts of child abuse that went on for several months — actions for which she has shown little or no remorse. So much so, he said, that Hildebrandt believes that everything she did was justified and that she is being wrongfully imprisoned. 

The defendant had also repeatedly claimed during several recorded calls from the jail that she was the victim and the children were the perpetrators in the case.

The defendant is a threat to society, he said, particularly in light of her training as a therapist and aptitude for using online resources to convince others to follow her guidance. He then asked the judge to run the sentences consecutively. 

“Ms. Hildebrand needs to be rehabilitated so that she no longer will present a risk to the community,” he said.

Prosecutor Shaum said actions perpetrated by both defendants were some of the worst forms of child abuse he has ever seen during his 30-year career.

Winward, Franke’s defense attorney, said that since his client’s arrest, she has engaged in introspection and reflection to the point she “has become a serious student of her own actions,” and his client was horrified at the realization of what she had done to her children.

His client’s actions, Winward said, were the result of  “layers of deceit and deception” that were foisted upon her over the last four years by an unscrupulous individual, namely Hildebrandt.

Franke said in her statement that over the past four years, she has been brainwashed by Hildebrandt, and her distorted version of reality went largely unchecked since she was isolated from anyone who would challenge her.

“I was led to believe that this world was an evil place,” she said.

Franke thanked the Santa Clara Ivins Police officers, who she said “are the angels who came and saved my children,” adding that when she was handcuffed by one of the officers was “the moment I gained my freedom.”

To her children, she said she “would cry forever” for hurting their tender souls.

Terry, Hildebrandt’s attorney, said there have been many allegations made against his client, and his experience with Hildebrand is that she is not the person that she has been portrayed to be. That said, Terry stated that his client recognizes that it was her behavior that caused the harm to the children and that she and Franke made decisions in disciplining the children that caused them harm.

Defendant Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, enters the courtroom as defense attorney Douglas Terry prepares for the sentencing hearing held in 5th District Court, St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2024 | Photo by Sheldon Demke, St. George News

“She fully recognizes that and accepts responsibility for that,” Terry said.

Hildebrandt also spoke, saying, “I sincerely love these children.” 

What she wanted for them was to heal physically and emotionally, she said, adding that one reason she did not take the case to trial was so they would not have to relive the experience. 

“My hope and prayer is that they will heal and move forward to have beautiful lives,” she said.

The judge did not comment prior to sentencing Franke, but to Hildebrandt, Walton said that however tragic her circumstances might be, they were largely of her own making, and said the defendant’s conduct “was disastrous for these children.” 

He also said that adults are supposed to protect children, particularly those with specialized training, which Hildebrandt had as a counselor.

“You didn’t do that, and in this case, you terrorized these children and the results have been tragic,” Walton said. 

He then sentenced Franke and Hildebrandt to serve 1-15 years in prison on each of the four counts that are to run consecutively. He also ordered that restitution remain open for eight months.

This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact. 

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cody Blowers was raised in South San Francisco, California. A 2013 graduate of Colorado Technical University, Cody earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in paralegal studies. Through the course of her academic studies she discovered that writing is her true passion, and she is committed to providing credible, integrated news coverage. Cody joined St. George News in 2015, and when she’s not busy chasing the news, she can generally be found chasing her young granddaughter, Kali.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @stgnews

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