Ruby Franke’s Husband Speaks Out After Child Abuser Wife Gets Locked in Prison

the ex-husband of a once popular and now. convicted mommy blogger is back in the. spotlight as he calls on lawmakers to. make changes to Utah's child welfare. laws and speaking out on Professional. Licensing in the state it's a move that. comes after a tumultuous series of. events over the last couple of years for. the influencers who ran the now defunct. YouTube channel 8 passengers we're. talking about ruby and Kevin Frankie. welcome to sidebar presented by law and. crime I'm Jesse Weber.

Kevin Frankie is certainly speaking out. in a major way and even before we get. into what he told Utah lawmakers I want. to give you some context on this story. some background this is a story we have. been following very closely here on. sidebar and all started a few years back. when then married Kevin and Ruby Frankie. Rose to YouTube Fame for their family. Vlog channel8 passengers which gave. parenting religious and other family. life advice for their growing number of.

followers it also logged the life with. of them and their six children and by. the time the channel was shut down in. 2023 it had reached nearly 2.5 million. subscribers but as we know Ruby teamed. up with self-proclaimed therapist and. life coach jod hilderbrand who appeared. to put a wedge between Kevin and Ruby. along with allegedly countless other. couples over the years through her. marriage and Life Counseling this was. through her business connections. classroom The Core teaching of. connections focused is on having true.

connection with others that one must not. be in a distortion through addiction. living in shame or denial being. codependent or living in lust there was. among other things now Ruby seemed to. fall under Jody's wing and the pair. teamed up creating a partnership online. which seemingly pushed Kevin out of the. picture and led to an official. separation now somewhere along the way. people began questioning some of Ruby's. tactics in her. videos Eve did not pack a lent today and.

I bring a lunch over to the school this. happens quite often when you're having. raising children um because I know that. her teacher is. uncomfortable with her being hungry and. not having a lunch and it would ease her. discomfort if I came to the school with. a lunch um but I I responded and just. said Eve is responsible for making her. lunches in the morning and she actually. told me she did pack a lunch.

so the natural outcome is she's just. going to need to be hungry and more and. more followers started noticing what. appeared to be pretty extreme forms of. punishment my bedroom was taken away for. 7 months and then you give it back like. a couple weeks ago I don't think our. viewers know that you've been sleeping. on a bean back I've been sleeping on a. bean bag since October and they gave my. room back like 2 weeks ago oh I'll give. you the reason why I lost my bedroom I. think so I think this is the reason at. least this is the reason that's been my. head.

it's pretty funny but now I look back. it's pretty depressing no we never told. our viewers that I woke Russell up at. 2:00 in the morning and told him that. we're going to Disneyland and he has to. pack and he got up and made his bed. neatly and then packed all his clothes. in the suitcase and then he walked out. the door and I'm like Russell he's like. what and he's all happy has his. sunglasses on I was like we're not going. to Disneyland and he started crying and. hitting me and then you went back to bed. in tears and then so that that was that.

was not the reason you lost your room. but that was the other reason is cuz I. pointed a BB gun on his face pointed a. BB gun at his face and hung him on the. basketball it's not. funny. basically basically Chad the day I got. home too Chad came home from anastasi. and Russell was like I want to try. dunking the basketball and I lifted him. up on the and he was.

and left him. there 3 minutes and he was just hanging. on there do you think it's funny because. and then I walk out if you think it's. funny then you that was 7 months ago. maybe you need longer without a bedroom. it no it was not funny Ruby's oldest. daughter Sherie requested a welfare. check on Ruby's house in the fall of. 2022 after a neighbor reportedly said. her siblings were left home alone for. about five days that's according to. police reports and then things sadly.

escalated from there 91 on the address. of your emergency tell me exactly what's. happened I just had a 12-year-old boy. show up here at my front door asking for. help this kid is. obviously I think he's. been he's been detained he's been he's. obviously covered in wounds right we. need the cops here as soon as possible. hey everybody we'll get you right back. to this in a minute but I do want to. thank upside for sponsoring this episode.

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sidebar for an extra 25 cents back on. your first gallon of gas it was. discovered the two youngest Frankie. children had been severely physically. and emotionally and mentally abused and. neglected at Jody's South Utah home both. Ruby and jod they were arrested on six. felony child abuse charges ultimately. pleading guilty and sentenced to prison. the Frankie's four minor children were. placed into State custody reporting. indicates that Kevin has been actively. trying to get custody of them back by. the way he's a strange now from Ruby.

Frankie uh and that brings us to what. happened now because Kevin spoke to. lawmakers on Tuesday this was ahead of a. public meeting of the Child Welfare. legislative oversight panel where top. officials with the Utah Division of. Child and Family Services were asked to. give details on the Frankie case and. he's calling on lawmakers to change how. police and DCFS investigate cases of. abuse local media reported that Kevin. says there are just too many loopholes. in the system too many loopholes which. made it easy for Ruby and her business.

partner jod to hide what was going on. with his kids after their separation and. before the panel heard the details of. the Frankie case Kevin made a statement. miss jod hilderbrandt a professionally. licensed mental health counselor in the. state of Utah knew the Utah child. welfare system like the back of her hand. including its rules its limitations and. its loopholes.

Jody convinced my wife that the. government wanted to rip religious. families like ours apart and. indoctrinate our children with secular. teachings I've come to learn that jod. masterfully coached Ruby in navigating. the Child Welfare loopholes in this. state in a. nutshell all they had to do were three. things one keep the children isolated. from the world.

two ignore all the phone calls from DCFS. case workers and three not answer the. door when DCFS and or police officers. knocked that's it actually we kind of. saw that because look at how Ruby. behaved when police arrested her place. your hand behind your back for me. perfect and then.

right now I can put a finger in each of. these okay and I'm just going to double. off those so they don't tighten up on. you on the way out. there where's your. car. yeah um you don't have anything on you. that I should know about correct any. weapons anything that we're going to. find before you put you in a police. vehicle we need to search your person to. make sure you don't have anything on you. is is there anything you have on you.

okay I'm going to search you before we. put you in his car that's just protocol. so I'm just going to have you step right. over here and then just widen your legs. widen your stance yep perfect are you. wearing a bra okay I'm just going to go. like this through and make sure you. don't have anything you said you're not. wearing bra okay in fact she admitted in. a later jailhouse recording that she. purposely didn't say anything to law. enforcement even when she was brought to. the station she's really not cooperative. do you live down here.

or or do you live up. north do you want to talk to me about. where you live or how many kids you. have so we just spoke with your husband. and he said you guys have six kids.

are those all. together are those all your kids and. Kevin also said that reports by friends. or family members should be enough for. officials to get involved without. additional evidence of abuse there was. not sufficient evidence based on our. current laws for government to intervene. despite the clear red flags recognized. and reported by our close friends and. neighbors and family as well this. allowed Jodie and Ruby to emotionally.

and physically terrorize my children. behind closed doors he told the panel. that his daughter Sherie was told that. they have never removed children from. abusive homes due to emotional abuse. despite being more rampant than physical. abuse cases we cannot allow religious. extremism to be an acceptable cover and. shield for child abuse in this state he. told lawmakers he even recalled jod. coaching him him to avoid DCFS warning.

that they wanted to rip his family apart. and by the way KSL News reported that. police had visited the Frankie home. multiple times between March 2019 and. August of 2023 at least five of those. visits involved Child and Family. Services Kevin statements also focused. on ch's licensing as a professional. mental health counselor even after years. of possible issues calling for an audit. of DOL Utah's division of Professional. Licensing to find out. why she was still licensed over these.

instances of not following Professional. Standards and using the title of a life. coach which isn't even regulated under. state law at the meeting Tuesday DCFS. director Tanya myup responded to the. case being discussed saying the agency's. most difficult cases involve families. who don't cooperate and Kevin also gave. a brief update on his current fight to. get custody of the children back saying. they're still in the process of. reunification we reached out to Kevin's. attorney about the latest news we. haven't heard back well joining me right.

now is Salt Lake City based criminal. defense attorney Sky Lazaro uh sky thank. you so much for coming on so much to. unpack here what are your initial. Impressions here because obviously it's. tragic and it's heartbreaking but the. main question is should there be a. change could this have been. prevented yeah this has been a really. interesting case to follow I I followed. it with KUTV and some other uh other. agencies.

the something should have been different. I think that uh is a foregone conclusion. the fact that it got to this level uh is. is pretty extreme uh he's right that. life coaches aren't regulated the same. way as as mental health providers so I. think I would actually expect to see. probably some changes maybe coming from. the legislature in response to this case. uh is that because is that because it's. so high-profile and so egregious what.

ruby and jod did and because Kevin is so. are actively supporting a change here is. that why we could see a change in Utah. law I think so I mean had this case not. happened and no one brought it to. attention I don't think anything would. have changed but this case got a lot of. national attention there's been a lot of. criticism on on the way it was handled. uh from everything from DCFS to the way. the police investigated ated it uh and.

everything else so I I think given the. scrutiny of it and Kevin coming forward. and and pushing for this change could. result in in changes and the weird thing. about this case is you know I I think. everybody has a lot of questions you. know how come Kevin wasn't seeing these. kids for all this time that it it got to. this level why I'll I'll tell you I'll. tell you well at least with Kevin you. know he has come out and said in a way I.

I I'm this is the best word to describe. he was manipulated he was brainwashed by. jod to believe he was wrong and that he. can't even be around the family for a. year that he was a a toxic influence and. so in an effort this is I'm just. reiterating what what Kevin has said in. an effort to come back to his family to. have a relationship with Ruby again he. was told to stay away he was told to not. have contact I know that's very. controversial I know a lot of people. have criticized Kevin Frankie for that. but that has been one of the reasons and.

it's understand yeah it's understandable. that people have questions I I totally. get it I I think the question becomes. though I hope it doesn't take a case. like this and this shouldn't have. happened for there to be changed but. when I think about it from a legal point. of view what realistically can be done. here I mean I depends where you want to. start right if you want to start with. you know should life coaches have you. know this much say or or should they be. regulated I don't know if that fixes the.

problem maybe they should be regulated. but that doesn't get rid of. extremism uh in in any sense you know. you have counselors that that can do. this sort of thing family counselors. until somebody makes a complaint against. them can probably continue to do things. like this to people like Kevin who you. know believes he I think it's. understandable that he believes he was. doing what was right for for his family. by you know participating in this. process however he was brainwashed to do. so I I think the bigger problem uh isn't.

about the regulation I think the bigger. problem is within. DCFS the talk about that that's the. problem like you can regulate things as. much as you want and you are still going. to have people out there who are like. jod Hill de brand you I mean it's you. just are well should should here's The. Balancing Act and and I wanted to have. you on about how the law works here. because it's a balancing right you would. say should we make it easier for State.

services to get involved to potentially. take children away from an abusive home. it doesn't have it shouldn't rise to the. level of physical abuse but then you get. into a point are we interfering. interfering in family's lives right um. do we what is emotional abuse you you. bet you say your children to do X Y and. Z is that or or or you say something to. them you know as a way of parenting. should the government step in there. should the state step in there I mean. it's a balancing test about what is. right and obviously hindsight's 2020 you.

say I wish uh they got involved sooner I. wish the kids were taken away but that's. what complic complicates it so how could. the law really change here how could the. regulations change here. DCFS I think that's it's you're right it. is a balancing act because you're by. getting involved in the family unit. you're impeding in somebody's right to. parent which is a very protected right. uh and it requires a high burden you. know for them to remove children it.

requires clear and convincing evidence. which is just short of Beyond a. reasonable doubt that there's harm to. these children I don't know that there. need to be changes as to when children. should be removed I think where I see. the breakdown in this case uh in what. I've reviewed. is if they were being called to this. home you know there's welfare checks. called all the time people know how to. weaponize the system pretty pretty well. you know with with divorces or custody.

issues or whatever it is and so I think. you know sometimes DCFS and and law. enforcement authorities you know they. get a little I don't want to say. desensitized but when a lot of these. calls are made you kind of get to a. point where you're like is there really. a problem is this a civil issue is this. something I need to even deal with but I. do think in this case and I don't I. don't remember on the timeline when the. last time DCFS was called to that house.

but these children were pretty emaciated. and pretty abused you know so I don't. know if it needs to be regulation where. it's easier for them to remove children. I wouldn't advocate for that I think I I. think that needs to be an extremely high. burden before you can do that but I do. think from an investigative. level maybe there there should be some. more follow through maybe if you're. getting multiple reports you know you do.

something to engage services or check in. on these kids and and physically see. them to make sure that everybody's safe. not just knock on the door and well. nobody answered you know I think that. creates its own problem and I guess the. qu the problem is as well you know you. could and I think this was brought up in. that conversation we'll check with. family we'll check with friends we'll. check with the school but they might not. know they might not know what goes on. behind closed doors but what about what. about elevating and I think you touched.

upon a little bit should it be emotional. abuse should that be. enough I think that's a hard one uh I I. think you're going to. see the law is and I think should. stay favoring the family. unit I I I I firmly believe that I I do. think that but in balancing that with. the safety of the children emotional. abuse is a huge thing you're right if. you go a lot of these kids are.

conditioned not to talk about it so the. school may never know because they're. not going to say anything you know. they're they're told not to or they're. told it's normal or whatever it is you. know so checking with people you're. right doesn't always get you there and I. don't I I think emotional abuse is a. hard one it's hard to prove it it's hard. to recognize and it's hard to prove it. could be subjective to like we can we. can say with physical abuses that's easy. to show right but but subjective could.

be tough although you know the. allegation it's not even allegations. what they pled guilty to was clearly. these two women was clearly emotional. and psychological and mental abuse do. you think these efforts on Kevin. Frankie's part could help or hurt in his. fight to get custody of his children. that's a hard. question uh you know if if they tighten. regulations it it could play against him. you know I understand his position that. he was brainwashed and and he was under.

you know jod hild de. Brandt's spell or or whatever it is as. well but you know if you're talking. about emotional abuse or or allowing. emotional abuse of your. children even maybe unknowingly or being. told that it's in their best interest. that may make things more difficult for. him because while he wasn't. participating in in what was actively. happening you know he also at the same. time. wasn't doing.

anything it's a difficult situation. we'll see what happens we'll see if the. UT lawmakers make any kind of change. after this Sky Lazaro thank you so much. for coming on appreciate it y thanks for. having me all right everybody that's all. we have for you right now here on. sidebar thank you so much for joining us. and as always please subscribe on Apple. podcast Spotify YouTube wherever you get. your podcast I'm Jesse Weber I'll speak. to you next time. [Music].