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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Edward Helmore

Ruby Franke, YouTube mom vlogger, sentenced to prison for child abuse

Ruby Franke during a hearing in December 2023, in St George, Utah.
Ruby Franke during a hearing in December 2023, in St George, Utah. Photograph: Ron Chaffin/AP

Ruby Franke, a mother of six who gave online parenting advice via a popular YouTube channel, was sentenced to four prison terms of between one and 15 years each, on aggravated child abuse charges on Tuesday.

Franke, 42, who had 2.3 million followers on her now-deleted 8 Passengers video channel, was arrested in the southern Utah city of Ivins last August after her malnourished 12-year-old son, with open wounds and bound with duct tape, climbed out of a window at the home of Jodi Hildebrandt, owner of a self-improvement counseling business, to ask for food and water from a neighbor.

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