ST. GEORGE, Utah, Dec. 27, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Jodi Nan Hildebrandt, a former counselor and social media personality, has pleaded guilty to four of six federal child abuse charges, as did Ruby Franke, her former social media partner in their shared parenting podcast.
Hildebrandt’s plea agreement, like Franke’s, says the sentences for each of the four crimes will be served consecutively, not concurrently. Each term is expected to last 1 to 15 years.
Franke’s and Hildebrandt’s sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 20.
The charges stemmed from incidents discovered on Aug. 30 of this year. Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped from the family residence and went to a neighbor’s residence to ask for food and water. The boy showed signs of significant malnourishment, and was observed to have duct tape on his ankles and wrists.
Franke’s 10-year-old daughter was also found to be malnourished, and had lacerations consistent with being bound by ropes, court documents say.
On Dec. 18, the day of Franke’s plea agreement, her attorney blamed Hildebrandt for distorting his client’s sense of morality.
In Hildebrandt’s plea deal, she admitted to torturous acts including forcing or coercing Franke’s daughter to jump multiple times into a spikey cactus plant.
In Franke’s plea deal documents, she admitted to acts including kicking one of her children while wearing boots and holding the child’s head under water to cut her air supply.
See Hildebrandt’s plea agreement below, followed by that of Franke. Both documents contain information that is disturbing, and should be viewed at the reader’s discretion.
