I just waved goodbye to my daughter and granddaughter — they’re driving back to Wisconsin. We had an exhausting weekend with a 4 year old (soon to be five!) who was full of energy and was running circles around us.
No sooner had they left than I sit down and read about Ruby Franke.
Ruby Franke, the family vlogger behind the now-defunct YouTube channel 8 passengers has been formally charged with six counts of felony child abuse by a Washington County attorney in Utah, court documents show.
Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were arrested last week after Franke’s 12-year-old son climbed out a window and ran to a neighbor’s house asking for food and water.
The neighbor, noticing duct tape around the child’s ankles and wrists, called the police. The responding officer said the child appeared severely malnourished and had sustained “deep lacerations” from being tied up with a rope.
When police searched Hildebrandt’s home, they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter in a similar condition and transported both children to the hospital for malnourishment. In total, the four Franke children still living at home were taken into the care of Utah’s Child and Family Services. Her two other children are adults.
Hildebrandt was also charged with six felony counts of aggravated child abuse.
I am at a loss. I cannot imagine doing that to a child. But I can see three factors in the story that would drive a person to child abuse, not that it excuses it.
- Conservative bullshit. There is an old-time conservative tradition that children must be beaten — “spare the rod, spoil the child,” all that crap. Not in my immediate family, fortunately, but I knew kids who came to school with welts, and some of my relatives could be fierce with a switch. These people still exist.
- Religious sadism. If God says it’s OK, then swat that child. It’s even in the ten commandments, when it’s read as “Honor your father and mother…OR ELSE.” It’s especially strong in Mormonism, where so many children are literally thrown out of the house to fend for themselves if they don’t follow arbitrary Mormon rules.
- Capitalism. Family vlogging or mommy vlogging can be extremely profitable, but only if the kids are doing interesting things, and if the parents are willing to expose their private struggles to the world. If there isn’t enough drama in day-to-day life, then make some. And if they kids aren’t sufficiently profitable in their trained chimpanzee antics, well, then they must be punished.
Now Franke’s sisters have issued a statement.
“For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children. Behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe,” the statement began.
“Ruby was arrested which needed to happen. Jodi was arrested which needed to happen. The kids are now safe, which is the number one priority.”
Oh, yeah? You knew about this for three years and said nothing?
Her neighbors commented.
The neighbors of recently-arrested YouTube family vlogger Ruby Franke were reportedly not surprised to see her Utah home swarmed by police. Some were just happy that the authorities weren’t pulling bodies from the house.
“Everyone is just breathing a collective sigh of relief because we thought they were going to come out of that house with body bags,” one of her neighbors told NBC News.
It was so bad that you were anticipating dead children, but you didn’t call CPS? This is just disturbing, that everyone knew and everyone kept kept quiet, and that Franke also had 2 million subscribers to her creepy YouTube channel, and all those people just watched.
That’s a little unfair. At least some of them complained enough that YouTube finally took the channel down. She just moved on to another inappropriate grift.
The channel was taken down earlier this year amid a growing chorus of criticism over Franke’s strict parenting tactics, which included threatening to take away meals.
In recent weeks, Franke had been collaborating with Hildebrandt on ConneXions, a mental health counseling service that also faced criticism for its parenting advice, including shame-based learning and shunning those who don’t share your values.
Hildebrandt is another piece of work, an ex-therapist who had her license revoked.
The founder of the company, Jodi Hildebrandt, is a therapist who had her license suspended in 2012 after she disclosed a patient’s “porn addiction” to his Mormon church leaders, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
It’s astonishing that anyone would take mental health advice from either of those two losers.
By the way, their Instagram channel, Moms of Truth, is still up and available if you are really interested in seeing a pair of hypocrites complaining about “woke.”
This is typical in Mormonism and happens often.
To them, the government(s) are the enemy!
Especially, but not limited to the Federal government.
CPS, Child Protective Services is also a major enemy of the religious right.
Because they interfere often when the children are being abused or homeschooled by being set in front of a TV to watch cartoons all day.
They even teach their children how to act when CPS shows up. Lie a lot and/or disappear.
Examples:
Remember when Cliven Bundy had a standoff with the BLM and Feds. They were letting their cattle run wild over BLM land and not paying their very small grazing fees.
In their mostly Mormon communities of southern Utah, they had a huge amount of support.
Ammon Bundy himself was a leader in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff, where the issue was…I have no idea, something something Federal wildlife refuges should all be cattle ranches or something.
It’s basically hostility towards the Federal government and magical thinking about land rights and ownership.
If you can take over a Wildife refuge with guns, then it’s yours.
We’ve seen this movie before.
The Turpins had 13 children because that is what god told them to do.
They were religious fundies as well.
And, also doing long prison sentences right now.
The family reunion is scheduled for 2045, when they get out of prison.
The eldest of the Franke children, Shari, has not had contact with her family for around a year and she states in an Instagram post that she has been trying to get the police and the CPS involved for years. So perhaps more explainable why no-one contacted CPS – they were essentially complicit
Want to know how to stop CPS from investigating you?
Ask the fundie xians.
They quite often end up in trouble with the CPS, which they regard as their enemy.
or
What normal people call child abuse, child torture, and child trafficking, the fundie xians call raising up a child. I suppose they call the kids that don’t make it to adult hood, collateral damage or human child sacrifices to their horrible gods that they just make up.
@3 Yeah, I saw that story too. Also it looks like their Instagram account is dead.
I knew why we call GOP the “Grand Old Projection” when we talk about right-wing conspiracies such as control of the media, “grooming”, voter fraud and “censorship”. I did not know that this also applies to “drinking the blood of children” as well.
Now I know better.
“For the last 3 years we have kept quiet on the subject of our sister Ruby Franke for the sake of her children.”
That sounds a lot like a confession, and the sisters should be charged too. In what way did they help these children? They were still being starved and tortured!
Mormon blood is thicker than water.
Isn’t it interesting how religions that self-police seem to shelter child abusers and rapists? It’s almost as if that’s what the religion is for.
Joseph Smith was an itinerant conman and he founded a religion that conveniently had god mandating what Smith happened to want, personally. I suggest everyone read a bit about how the church was founded and if you don’t see it as an obvious, amateurish con, I have a couple golden tablets I’ll let you read. Disclaimer: god says he will disintegrate you if anyone but me looks at them.
I’d say “you can’t make this shit up” except it’s even dumber than scientology and it was obviously not a big stretch of the imagination for anyone.
There was very little said about her husband. There is no way he could not have known what was happening in his home. Did he live there? Why was he not also arrested?
Although I think such beliefs are nonsense, people should be allowed to practice their religions up to the point where the exercise of those beliefs causes harm to others. We would not allow child sacrifice by any religious group regardless of whether they claim it is a core tenet of their faith. Neither should we allow physical or psychological abuse of children under the guise of being some form of traditional parenting endorsed by selective quotes from the Bible or any other “holy” text.
If these communities are deeply suspicious of the Federal government and agencies such as CPS then we should be equally suspicious of communities where local law enforcement, the judiciary and the legislature are all in the thrall one specific faith to the extent they will turn a blind eye to what would elsewhere be considered atrocious criminal behavior. There should be an investigation into the extent to which local authorities had reason to suspect these children were being abused and did nothing but I’m not holding my breath.
The sisters, ugh, I love how they handwave their silence (complicity) as “we just wanted to help the children by maintaining contact with their abusers”. I hope they’re thoroughly investigated, too.
And the husband!
Anything else I have to say regarding this family will likely break The Rules.
While you may be absolutely right WMDKitty, I suspect that it may be more nuanced than that with them knowing it wouldn’t do any good as Shari (their niece) had been trying for years to get CPS involved. Doesn’t exonerate them but highlights a much bigger deeper issue than just one family (especially as their had been previous ineffective CPS involvement)
She and her husband have apparently been separated for 13 months though I note accusations of abuse are much older than that time frame. He was an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at BYU.
The police have done checks before (14 since 2020 according to KSL) including one for leaving four minor children alone for multiple days. Certainly the eldest daughter called for at least one check and possibly some of the neighbors.
I note her parents and at least some of her siblings seem to each run their own vlog (apparently a sister was the first in the family to start vlogging). Unregulated child exploitation?
There was good coverage of this on Fundie Friday on YouTube this week. Horrendous story.
One thing that’s important to remember about Utah is that the Mormon Church functionally runs the state government and most (if not all) state agencies. If a Good Mormon is accused of doing something bad, they will cover it up unless it’s so egregious that it can’t be denied- like what we see here. Going to the cops or CPS with nothing but suspicions and you can probably expect the cops to go after you.
In Utah, whatever the Mormon church wants, it gets.
The state is 60% Mormon but last time I looked, the state legislature was more like 90% LDS. Utah is gerrymandered by religion.
I doubt if there are many non-Mormons in CPS.
Utah CPS has a bad reputation both inside and outside Utah for doing nothing.
Springville, where this took place is a suburb of Provo Utah.
It is 89% Mormon.
The Mormons and Utah have their own Mormon Gulag system for unwanted children.
Occasionally, kids die in these so called treatment camps.
In a lot of cases, the kids are sent to them simply because they are in the way. A new boyfriend or stepparent doesn’t want the kids around and off they go.
#8 Marcus Ranum: There was an outstanding episode of “South Park” several years ago which was actually a VERY good primer for beginning a deep dive into the abomination we call ‘mormonism’. Amazingly well done, considering they only had 22 minutes to work with. HIGHLY recommended!
PZ, I think you’ve omitted the most important factor: they see their children as their property, as theirs to command.
Of course you can’t. You’re not a monster.
I think you got the prime factors right, too–religion, authoritarianism, and children as cash cows. The first two have been around practically forever, while the third seems to have taken a turn for the worse with the rise of YouTube etc. When you see your children as revenue streams, it’s easy to lose track of their human needs. The stage parent has been around for a long time, but you no longer need to move to Hollywood or get a TV contract (like, say, the Duggars) to get started. (Parents also push their kids to play a sport 365 days a year in anticipation of that eventual pro contract.) Letting them have a childhood becomes secondary at best.
I’m a little more hesitant to blame CPS. I assume, as a government agency, that they’re likely underfunded and understaffed. They might also have to deal with false reports and reports made because someone has a lifestyle one disapproves of, because that’s the sort of thing religious busybodies do.
As for Mormonism, I think that other than maybe Scientology, it’s about the most blatantly made-up religion I know of. If you can make yourself believe that crap, there’s just about no limit what else you can buy into.
These two grifters are evil, but – and this is a sign of the times- hardly the most destructive and dangerous grifters at large in society.
Last time I checked, Henry Kissinger was free, and so are a thousand other cynical monsters.
Request: Don’t refer to ConneXions as a “mental health counseling service”. “Mental health counselor” is a licensed profession – it’s a legally protected term available only to people with certain training who are prepared to uphold certain ethical standards. ConneXions, as best I can tell from their website, is run by a woman who does not have a counseling degree or a license. She does not offer mental health counseling. She offers “classes” and “coaching”.
Most states’ CPS or equivalent agency has a bias against PoC and people who struggle with poverty. I’m totally willing to believe that Utah CPS had her on the radar but knew there either wasn’t a compelling enough case to bring to a judge or thought the complaints against her were frivolous on the basis of a positive bias toward her.
@8 Marcus Ranum
Is there any religion for which this isn’t true? Every example I’ve heard of so far are obvious con, Mormonism no more so than any other Christian sect… though perhaps maybe some are more easily explained by raving lunatics being taken seriously.
feralboy12 @ #19 — “As for Mormonism, I think that other than maybe Scientology, it’s about the most blatantly made-up religion I know of.” I would be cautious with asserting that these are the most blatantly made-up religions. They happen to be some of the most recent so we’re more familiar with their origin stories, and they’re invention is better documented. History obscures any invention of other religions, especially the big four in the modern world.
This story is not surprising. Many of us have had numerous interactions with freakshow disgusting LDS (Lying Deceitful Scum). I’ve archived an article where a LDS bishop talked about how lying fot the church is perfectly acceptable.
@10 seversky said: people should be allowed to practice their religions up to the point where the exercise of those beliefs causes harm to others.
I reply: That is true. However, I and many in our organization have witnessed that almost interaction with others by LDS clearly harms some others in some way.
oops, meant to write: hat almost every interaction with others by LDS clearly harms some others in some way.
shermanj @ # 25: I’ve archived an article where a LDS bishop talked about how lying fot the church is perfectly acceptable.
Link, please?
Dear @27 Pierce R. Butler asked for a link to the article about LDS bishop and lying
I reply: Dear Pierce, it’s on the archive computer on our LAN. I’ll see if I can find it and post the URL here (hopefully in a few minutes).
Dear Pierce, I found it and dusted it off. Here is the pertinent info from what I downloaded and archived:
http://stakepresident.blogspot.com/
A blog about the life of a Stake President in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Thursday, January 2, 2014
The Important Distinction between Lying & Lying for the Lord
http://www.lds.org/manual/gospel-principles/chapter-31-honesty?lang=eng
This gospel precept is often known as “lying for the Lord”
@25 shermanj
Was it, by any chance, Apostle Boyd K. Packer’s “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater Than The Intellect”? Wherein, if I remember correctly, he stated, “some things that are true are not very useful”.
Sniped. Well, disregard that, or consider it some additional reading. ;-)
Dear @30 beholder: please see my comment @29 above for what I found. However, what you post is also pertinent and illustrative of the Lying Deceit and Scum.
Dear @31 beholder, our crossing comments reminds me of Ghost Busters on their weapons: “Don’t cross the beams.” LOL thanks for your contributions
shermanj @ # 29 – Thanks for the quick response!
However… your first link leads to a blog that looks and sounds very straight-faced satirical (the Brodie Award</> is a major clue).
And the second link goes to a page of bog-standard pieties with no trace (that I could detect) of jesuitical casuistries).
Oops – apologies for the html foo – what I get for commenting while talking on the phone…
I think the title of this post need the additional words “fun and” between “for” and “profit”!
I searched for the title of the post about The Important Distinction between Lying & Lying for the Lord. The post is on top of my DuckDuckGo search.
It starts out asking people not to read it unless they are advanced in the LDS church. He knows what he’s saying is absolute bunk, and trying to keep it among the faithful.
Actually, the earlier church leader who advocated lying for jesus was…Martin Luther.
The founder of my natal church and an incredible bigot and hater.
Martin Luther published the first plans for the Jewish Holocaust and really didn’t like women at all. Eusebius the ancient church historian said something similar.
Eusebius’s history of early xianity is looked at as a mixture of truth and fiction by everyone who came after him.
What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for the Christian church … a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies would not be against God, he would accept them.
— Martin Luther
Did Luther, or anyone else, give any examples of such “good” or “useful” lies? Some examples would have been quite helpful, given that the overwhelming majority of responsible adults agree that lying is generally harmful to at least some people (and yes, that includes the adults who knowingly lie).
Im not surprised that no one said anything. My father used to beat the shit out of us three boys. My father was a policeman and then a detective who retired after 25 years of service. Over those 25 years my dad lost many friends over how he treated us kids. They told my parents they couldnt bear watching how he treated us kids anymore. Most of the friends were cops who said nothing. The whole thin blue line thing I guess. If any of those cops had spoken up, they could have stopped years of abuse but they chose to stay quiet to protect one of their own. Im glad those kids found a way out before it was too late.
Dear @35 Pierce R. Butler, I thought about the URL that I provided. It takes you to the ‘home’ page and whatever story has been posted on it shows. The story shown changes with every new story posted but the URL doesn’t. The key is the date that I took of the screen print: Thursday, January 2, 2014. You may find that story in their archives. I hope you will pardon me if I don’t wade into that LDS cesspool to find it.
shermanj @ # 41: … the URL that I provided.
The first one? The “The Important Distinction between Lying & Lying for the Lord” post is the 4th down on the page (the 1st and most recent post is dated Nov 6, 2015). The contents of those first three posts, respectively: LDS banning of children with same-sex parents; “oral abstinence” in marriage; a “beware of cults!” warning that describes the M church to a T — not exactly Elders’ talking points memo material at all.
Note that the Brodie Award received by “stakepresident” takes (took?) its name from the first secular biographer to dirty her hands raking the muck on Joseph Smith.
“Stake President Paternoster” may not have the chops of, say, Betty Bowers or Judy O’Christian, but they belong in the same club. I suspect you may have just re-confirmed Poe’s Law here.
As for your LDS.org/manual/ link, it doesn’t point to loopholes for Jesus (or Joseph S) that I can see – but I don’t claim any expertise in pious exhortations as a genre. What have I missed?
@42 Pierce R. Butler asked: but I don’t claim any expertise in pious exhortations as a genre. What have I missed?
I reply: Your first paragraph shows that you clearly understand the problems. Thanks for your contribution to this discussion. I used the articles only to substantiate to others what I and my cohorts have experienced first hand on numerous occassions; that the LDS are frauds, bigots, lying destructive and hateful in their works and deceitful in their deeds. By the way, I really enjoy Betty Bowers vids.
shermanj @ # 43: I used the articles only to substantiate to others what I and my cohorts have experienced first hand…
Oh, I never doubted for a second that the Saints have lied often and deeply, only that they’d copped to it in public.