At her sentencing hearing, the mom influencer apologized to her children, adding, “I was so disoriented that I believed dark was light and right was wrong.”

Ruby Franke, a once-popular online mom influencer with millions of followers, has been sentenced to four one- to 15-year terms in prison for child abuse.

Franke pleaded guilty in December to four counts of aggravated abuse against her children. She and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, had each been charged with six counts of felony child abuse in September.

Utah Judge John J. Walton sentenced both to four one- to 15-year terms on Tuesday, but state law limits the maximum aggregate sentence for consecutive terms to 30 years. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole will determine the length of time they will spend behind bars, NBC News reported.

For years, the 42-year-old mother documented her strict parenting style with her husband Kevin Franke and her six children on her YouTube channel, “8 Passengers.” She and Hildebrandt also doled out parenting advice in videos.

  • ShadowRam@kbin.social
    38·
    10 months ago

    millions of followers

    No one gonna question why such sick abusive people gained that kind of popularity to begin with?

    • Fisk400@feddit.nu
      28·
      10 months ago

      I think there is an element of crazy Mormon moms watching other Mormon moms be crazy Mormons.

          • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
            13·
            10 months ago

            I think that happens when they’re posting from Mastodon instead of using a proper Lemmy client, or something like that.

            (You might notice the tags are specifically for the people directly upthread of their comment, including the post itself. I think it has something to do with how Mastodon keeps track of that conversation flow.)

    • The_v@lemmy.world
      14·
      10 months ago

      In Mormon culture, moms with more than 5 children receive constant positive reinforcement. Just because they have that many kids they are instantly viewed as “Good Moms”. So many narcissistic women have tons of kids due to social expectations.

      Then at church and in front of social media they present a perfect image of the happy Mormon family. Hidden underneath the children’s clothing and in their minds is written a long history of abuse and neglect.

      Traditionally all abuse including sexual abuse has been handled by the untrained clergy and mostly covered up. Recently more has been pushed to the legal system as lawsuits against the church are becoming more common. With the churches hundred’s of billions in funds and assets at stake, they are covering up less.