Mother-of-six Ruby Franke cried in court as she appeared for a custody hearing for her four minor children.
Speaking in open court Thursday, the Mormon mother broke down at times as she made shocking claims that one of her minor children had sexually abused their sibling and abused several other family members and children in the neighborhood over the years.
The popular YouTuber was arrested last month along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt and charged with six felony counts of child molestation after one of her sons was discovered with open wounds and duct tape on their limbs.
Franke, 41, appeared via video from a Utah jail, where she is being held without bail until her next court appearance, scheduled for Friday.
YouTuber mother Ruby Franke (pictured) has been charged with six counts of child abuse after her 12-year-old son was found with open wounds and duct tape on their limbs. Franke made astonishing claims during the hearing that one of her minor children had sexually abused another
Franke’s husband Kevin, dressed in a dark suit, sat at the table with his lawyer and looked straight ahead as his wife made the sickening accusations.
Ruby, her husband, and their six children rose to fame in 2015 after she began sharing videos on YouTube that gave a glimpse into her life as a Mormon mother of six.
The hearing presided over by Judge Suchada Bazzelle lasted just 30 minutes and inside were Franke’s husband, Kevin, with his attorney Randy Kester. At another table sat the state’s lawyers, and what appeared to be Franke’s two eldest daughters also appeared to be accompanied by a lawyer.
Ruby Franke’s husband Kevin appeared at Thursday’s hearing with his attorney Randy Kester
Franke appeared to shift the blame for her behavior onto her children, going into gruesome detail about how one of her six children abused other children.
She claimed that one of the Franke children started watching pornography at just the age of three.
In one of the most shocking claims, Franke said her child sexually abused a younger sibling for years, adding that they eventually began abusing other children.
She also claimed that her two children were playing a “beating” game with each other, but did not elaborate.
Franke said her child admitted in May to sexually abusing 20 people, including cousins and neighbors.
She has not provided any evidence to support her sickening accusations.
The court became eerily quiet after Ruby made the disturbing claims.
The judge then said that her allegedly abusive child “should then be placed in a home without other children.”
Judge Bazzelle set the next hearing date for a mediation hearing on September 15 and a preliminary hearing on September 18
Husband Kevin is photographed outside Thursday’s hearing with his attorney Randy Kester
The hearing led by Judge Suchada Bazzelle lasted only 30 minutes
Franke’s husband Kevin, dressed in a dark suit, sat at the table with his lawyer and looked straight ahead as his wife made the sickening accusations.
In a surprising move in the courtroom, a lawyer sitting in the public viewing area stood up and asked the judge to hear details about the molestation of another child because a mother of one of the alleged victims was in the courtroom.
The judge denied the request, saying details of the alleged abuse could be heard at a later date.
Outside court, DailyMail.com tried to get comment from the mother whose child was allegedly abused by the Franke child, but they declined to speak.
Kevin Franke and his attorney Randy Keester left the courthouse about an hour later and made no comment when asked if he believed his wife’s shocking allegations.
Keester said: “He has been ordered by the court not to comment to the press. Out of respect for the children involved, we have no comment.”
Judge Bazzelle set the next hearing date for a mediation hearing on September 15 and a preliminary hearing on September 18.
The judge told Ruby Franke that if she is released from jail, she must attend the hearings in person and if not, they must provide transportation.
Ruby’s eldest daughter Shari, 20, posted about her mother’s arrest on Instagram, sharing a photo of police officers outside the house with the caption “Finally”
The family blew up on social media after they started posting videos in 2015
Ruby Franke first rose to fame for her strict parenting style, which blew up on YouTube and made her “millions” of dollars, she claimed.
She, along with husband Kevin, amassed more than 2.2 million subscribers for documenting their daily social media efforts.
The pair stopped uploading videos in January 2022 and the 8 Passengers page was completely removed from the website earlier this year.
When asked why she left YouTube months later, she said she chose to stop uploading videos because she wanted to “save her children.”
In July, she was called out online after a video surfaced of her leaving her daughter hungry after the young girl forgot to make her own lunch for school.
In a video posted in 2020, Ruby said her daughter’s teacher texted her saying the youngster had nothing to eat for lunch.
Ruby Franke, (left) who ran the now defunct channel 8 Passengers, was arrested on August 30 along with her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt (right).
Ruby Franke’s home in Springville, Utah, can be seen Saturday
She said all of her children are responsible for preparing their own lunch in the morning, so she wouldn’t bring food over for her daughter to teach her a lesson.
Franke said, “My hope (is) that she will be hungry and come home and say ‘that was really painful to be hungry all day. I’ll make sure I always have lunch with me.’
“The natural result is that she will simply have to go hungry.”
It was this parenting style that helped the woman gain a huge following on YouTube and put herself and her family in the spotlight.
After her arrest, one of Ruby’s adult children spoke out on social media, saying she was excited to see justice finally served for her mother.
In an Instagram story following her mother’s arrest, Shari, 20, celebrated her mother’s arrest and said she had been “trying to tell the police and CPS about this for years.”
Shari also said she is “so happy that they finally decided to take it a step further” and that her siblings are safe, DailyMail.com reported.
The 20-year-old shared a photo of police officers outside the family’s home in Springville, Utah, along with the caption, “Finally.”