A 41-year-old United States woman once popular for giving parenting advice on YouTube has been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse in the state of Utah after her emaciated son approached a neighbour\u2019s house looking for food, authorities say.<\/p>\n
Ruby Franke, whose now-deleted channel 8 Passengers had 2.5 million subscribers, was arrested on Wednesday night in the southern Utah city of Ivins along with her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt.<\/p>\n
Franke, the mother of six, has recently appeared in YouTube videos with 54-year-old Hildebrandt that were posted online by the latter\u2019s counseling business, ConneXions Classroom.<\/p>\n
The two women were formally charged on Friday in Washington County, according to the local website the St George News. They each face six counts of aggravated child abuse.<\/p>\n
Franke\u2019s 12-year-old son climbed out of a window in Hildebrandt\u2019s residence in Ivins, ran to a neighbour\u2019s house on Wednesday morning and asked for food and water, according to an affidavit filed by an officer with the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.<\/p>\n
The neighbour saw duct tape on the boy\u2019s ankles and wrists and called law enforcement, the affidavit said. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was put on a medical hold \u201cdue to his deep lacerations from being tied up with rope and from his malnourishment\u201d, arrest records said.<\/p>\n
Franke\u2019s 10-year-old daughter was later found malnourished in Hildebrandt\u2019s house and was also taken to the hospital, officers said. Two more of Franke\u2019s children were in the custody of child protection services, the affidavit said.<\/p>\n
Franke requested a lawyer and did not speak with officers, the affidavit said.<\/p>\n
A voicemail left at a phone listing for Franke\u2019s husband, Kevin Franke, seeking comment on the arrest was referred to his lawyer, Randy Kester, who said he was representing Kevin\u2019s interests in keeping his children together and in his care and that he could not comment on Ruby Franke\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
A voicemail left with Hildebrandt\u2019s counseling business seeking comment on Thursday was not returned.<\/p>\n
A judge on Thursday granted the detective\u2019s request that Ruby Franke be denied bail. Hildebrandt was also denied bail, court records said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A 41-year-old United States woman once popular for giving parenting advice on YouTube has been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse in the state of Utah after her emaciated son approached a neighbour\u2019s house looking for food, authorities say. Ruby Franke, whose now-deleted channel 8 Passengers had 2.5 million subscribers, was arrested on Wednesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":39231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n