Momfluencer Ruby Franke will plead guilty to charges of child abuse, and believes Jodi Hildebrandt 'manipulated' her, attorney says

• Ruby Franke will plead guilty to charges of child abuse, her attorney says.
• She will also accuse her former business partner Jodi Hildebrandt of taking "advantage" of her.
• Both women were arrested in August after a child escaped from their care.

Ruby Franke, the former momfluencer who was arrested on child abuse charges in August, will plead guilty, her lawyer says.

Franke, who once ran the popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which followed the lives of her, her husband Kevin, and their six children, was charged with 6 felonies after her 12-year-old son climbed through a window to get help for himself and his 10-year-old sister.

Police at the time described the child as emaciated and injured, with duct tape around his ankles and wrists.

Franke's business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, was hit with the same charges as the children were staying at her house.

Franke will plead guilty on Monday, her lawyer LaMar Winward said in a statement at the Washington County 5th District Court in Utah on Saturday, ABC News reported.

Winward described Franke as a devoted mother, per ABC News, and claimed she had been "manipulated" by Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt has faced allegations of misconduct, including leaking confidential information about a client to the Mormon church, which led to her therapy license being put on probation for 18 months.

Hildebrandt's niece has also accused her of child abuse, describing similar punishments endured by Franke's children.

"Initially, Ms. Franke believed that Jodi Hildebrandt had the insight to offer a path to continual improvement," Winward said in a statement, per ABC News. "Ms. Hildebrant took advantage of this quest and twisted it into something heinous."

Winward told the court that Hildebrandt "systematically isolated" Franke "from her extended family, older children, and her husband, Kevin Franke."

"This prolonged isolation resulted in Ms. Franke being subjected to a distorted sense of morality," he said.

Since her arrest, Franke has been "actively engaged in an introspection that has allowed her to reset her moral compass and understand the full weight of her actions," the statement continued.

"Ms. Franke is committed to taking responsibility for the part she played in the events leading up to her incarceration."

In Utah, the definition of aggravated child abuse includes starvation, broken bones, head injuries from hitting or shaking, and suffocation. If intentionally inflicted, the perpetrator faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.

8 Passengers had 2.5 million subscribers at its peak

8 Passengers had around 2.5 million subscribers at its peak but was taken offline earlier this year. The family has also been surrounded by allegations of child abuse for several years and criticism over their content and parenting style.

They denied the allegations in an interview with Business Insider, but the channel never recovered. Franke then formed a new channel called ConneXions with Hildebrandt.

Before it was removed from YouTube, ConneXions described itself as a mom's "support group." They claimed to "help treat those lost and stranded in the darkness of distortion — which addictions, fear, sadness, and all other self-destructive behaviors derive from," but has been criticized as damaging, extreme, and authoritarian in its teachings.

Franke's husband, Kevin, was not arrested with his wife, as he was not living with her at the time. Since Franke's arrest, Kevin's attorney, Randy Kester, has said Kevin had no knowledge of the abuse his children were subjected to, as he was forced to move out of the family home.

He has also made similar claims about Hildebrandt. In a recent statement, Kester said Kevin had been brainwashed and forced into isolation by Hildebrandt when she became the family's counselor.

Kevin filed for divorce from his wife in November.

Kester told Business Insider in an email that the purpose of the divorce is to "dissolve the marriage, as amicably as possible, to sever the legal bonds of the marital relationship, to get an equitable division of the marital assets and to establish an order of custody."

He said that the custody of the Frankes' children is being determined in the juvenile court.

"For now, at least, Kevin and I are following the direction of the juvenile court orders with regard to custody and parent time," he said.

BI has reached out to Franke's attorney for comment.