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A mormon YouTuber’s husband is ‘trying to keep his children together’ as the mother-of-six is arrested for child abuse, after two kids were found starved with open wounds and duct tape on their extremities.
Ruby Franke, 41, is known for her YouTube channel 8 Passengers, earlier this week she was taken into custody under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse, along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt..
Franke shares six children with her husband Kevin Franke – Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell and Eve.
Kevin’s attorney, Randy S.Kester said his client’s ‘urgent focus is simply to keep his children together under his fatherly care’, when speaking to Page Six.
Four minor children were taken into the care of Child and Family Services following the police’s investigation. It is unconfirmed if the children were related to either woman.
Kevin Franke (right) has said his ‘urgent focus’ is to keep his six children which he shares with former YouTuber Ruby Franke (left) together under his care
Mormon YouTuber Ruby Franke (pictured with her daughters) was taken into custody under suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse earlier this week
According to an arrest record, a child fled through a window of Hildebrandt’s house in Ivins and went to a neighbour who then called the police.
The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department in Utah arrested the two women after a report of a juvenile in need at 10.50am on Wednesday.
Authorities said the child was described as ’emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities’ and asking for food and water.
In a statement they said: ‘The condition of the juvenile was so severe that they were seen by Santa Clara-Irvins EMS and transported to a local area hospital.
‘Information was obtained by police that other juveniles in similar condition may be in a nearby home.
‘Officers arrived at the home and searched the residence, locating another juvenile in a similar physical condition of malnourishment.
‘They were also transported by EMS for hospital treatment’. Cops said ‘evidence consistent with the markings found on the juvenile’ was located in the home.
Both Franke and Hildebrandt remain in custody at the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.
Franke (seen with her husband) is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year
Ruby, her husband, and their six kids were shot into stardom back in 2015, after she started sharing videos giving an inside look into her life as a Mormon mother-of-six on YouTube
Frake’s estranged eldest daughter Shari, 20, revealed in April she was no longer in contact with her mother.
She posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned ‘Finally’.
Shari added: ‘Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served.
‘We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.
‘Kids are safe, but there’s a long road ahead. Please keep them in your prayers and also respect their privacy.’
Franke’s eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing an image of police officers outside the home captioned ‘Finally’
Franke came under fire in July for revealing her then-six-year-old daughter Eve had to ‘go hungry’ because the little girl had failed to make her own lunch before school
Franke’s two sisters said the arrests ‘needed to happen’ and said they had been doing everything they could to try and make sure the children were safe over the past three years.
Franke is well-known for her strict parenting style on the channel, which she stopped uploading footage to in January 2022. It was taken down earlier this year.
When asked why she left YouTube behind months later on ConneXions, she said she opted to stop uploading videos because she wanted to ‘save her kids.’
Franke racked up more than 2.2million subscribers for documenting their day-to-day endeavors on social media, with her husband Kevin.
The mother-of-six came under fire in July after footage resurfaced of her allowing her daughter Eve, 6, to go hungry because she forgot to make her own lunch.
Franke’s eldest child, Shari (seen in May), revealed in April that she was no longer in contact with her mother
In a video posted to YouTube in February 2020, Ruby explained that she had received a text from her daughter’s teacher, telling her that the youngster didn’t have anything to eat for lunch.
She said all her kids are responsible for preparing their own lunches in the morning, so she would not be dropping off any food for Eve because she wanted to teach her a lesson.
Franke said: ‘My hope [is that] she will be hungry and come home and be like ‘that was really painful being hungry all day I’ll make sure to always have a lunch with me.”
‘The natural outcome is that she is just going to have to go hungry.’
