A Utah mom of 6 who provided parenting recommendations through a once-popular YouTube channel called “8 Passengers” made her preliminary court look Friday on charges that she and the owner of a relationship therapy service mistreated and starved her 2 young kids.
The procedures were postponed by about 45 minutes due to technical problems after more than 1,300 individuals lookedfor to log in to watch the virtual hearing, stated Tania Mashburn, representative for the Utah State Courts.
Ruby Franke, 41, and Jodi Hildebrandt, 54, were charged with 6 felony counts of worsened kid abuse after their arrests on Aug. 30 at Hildebrandt’s home in the southern Utah city of Ivins.
Both appeared priorto Judge Eric Gentry through video from prison using orange striped uniforms and spoke bit. Their lawyers waived reading of the charges and the ladies did not getin pleas.
Gentry purchased them to stay imprisoned without bail and setup their next hearings for Sept.21 Their lawyers — Lamar Winward for Franke and Douglas Terry for Hildebrandt — stated they were going to ask for bail hearings.
Due to the strong interest in the case — which likewise consistedof individuals calling in to listen to the hearing — authorities enabled about 50 individuals in the courtroom as well, Mashburn stated.
The charges were submitted after Franke’s 12-year-old boy gotaway Hildebrandt’s home and asked a next-doorneighbor to call cops, according to the 911 call launched by the St. George Police Department.
The kid was emaciated and had duct tape around his ankles and wrists, however wouldn’t state why, the caller reported.
“I think he’s been … he’s been apprehended,” the caller stated, his voice breaking up. “He’s certainly covered in injuries.”
As the dispatcher was asking concerns, the kid stated he didn’t understand where his mommy was and that his daddy was not in the location. The kid stated 2 brotherorsisters, ages 10 and 14, were still at Hildebrandt’s home.
“He states whatever’s fine with them,” the caller informed the dispatcher. “He states what