Disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke pleaded guilty today to child molestation as part of a plea deal, four months after her malnourished children were found in her business partner's Utah home.
Franke, wearing gray and white prison uniform, pleaded guilty to each of the first three charges separately and said on the fourth: “With my deepest regret and sadness for my family and my children, guilty.”
Franke and his partner, Jodi Hildebrand, were arrested earlier this year after one of Franke's six children escaped from their home in Ivins, Utah, and ran to a neighbor's house, where he knocked on the door and asked for food and water.
Franke, wearing gray and white prison uniform, pleaded guilty to each of the first three charges separately and said on the fourth: “With my deepest regret and sadness for my family and my children, guilty.”
Franke smiled at her attorney and correctional officers as she entered court Monday
Franke originally faced six counts of second-degree child abuse. Taken together, these charges carried a maximum sentence of 90 years in prison.
Today's agreement reduces the maximum sentence to 60 years. A judge will decide her fate in February.
The couple had run Franke's YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, where she gave parenting advice.
Franke insists she was manipulated by Hildebrand, who was also charged earlier this year.
Her lawyers say Hildebrand's influence created a “distorted sense of reality.”
“Ruby Franke is a devoted mother and also a woman committed to constant improvement,” Winward Law said in a statement.
Franke initially believed that Hildebrandt “had the insight to show a path to continuous improvement,” but said that Hildebrandt “exploited that search and turned it into something vile,” Franke's lawyers allege.
Hildebrandt “systematically isolated Ruby Franke from her extended family, her older children and her husband Kevin Franke,” the statement said.
Franke, 41, faced up to 90 years in prison for six second-degree felonies. Now she faces up to 60