Publish date: 2024-01-13

Julie Deru, Bonnie Hoellein, and Ellie Meacham are Ruby Franke’s siblings. They have issued a statement following her arrest and we’ll shed light on this recent development. 

Why Ruby Franke was arrested? 

On Wednesday, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of Ruby Franke, who is now listed as “in custody” and faces two charges of severe child abuse.

Their self-described parent “support group,” ConneXions, was founded with the aid of therapist and business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, with whom she was also jailed.

The 8 Passengers channel, which covered the daily lives of Franke, her husband Kevin, and their six children Shari, Chad, Abby, Julie, Russell, and Eve, premiered in 2015 and had almost 2.5 million members until it was taken down.

Franke was arrested after being the subject of a barrage of complaints of child abuse and neglect from viewers who had been worried about her vlogs for some time.

The arrest and years of charges that have plagued Franke and her family have now been addressed by Franke’s three sisters, all of whom are prominent mum figures in their own right. A statement was posted to the Instagram accounts of Ellie Mecham, Bonnie Hoellein, and Julie Deru on Thursday, in which they said that they had remained silent for the last three years “for the sake of her children.”

“Behind the scenes, we have done everything we could to try to ensure the kids were safe,” their comments stated. We can’t continue with our usual content schedule without talking about what’s been going on recently.

What the court charges against Ruby Franke?

Recent accusations against Franke and Hildebrandt were warranted, the sisters agreed. It was necessary to place Ruby under arrest. It was necessary to have Jodi arrested,” the statement added. “The kids are safe now, which is obviously the most important thing.”

Within only a few hours, the post had over 40,000 likes. Franke and her sisters have collaborated on videos from the beginning of their YouTube careers, such as this 2015 sibling Q&A that was posted on Hoellein’s channel.

Franke’s oldest child, Brigham Young University junior Shari, who severed relations with the family in 2022 and has openly criticized them, also commented on the news.

On Wednesday, when news of her mother’s arrest spread, Shari captioned a photo of a police cruiser with the word “Finally.”

     View this post on Instagram           

A post shared by Ellie Mecham (@elliemecham)

In a separate Story, she expressed her joy that “justice is being served” for her and her loved ones. We’re relieved that the police and CPS have taken action on this issue after hearing from us repeatedly over the years.

On Wednesday morning, Utah police detained Franke and Hildebrant after receiving a call from someone who said a youngster was calling for assistance.

The unidentified caller stated the youngster “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities,” and asked for “food and water,” according to a statement supplied to Insider by the Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department.

The youngster was taken to the hospital for treatment, and the statement added that when police checked on the child’s home, they discovered another emaciated child. In addition to these four, four additional kids were also rescued.

Fans online agree with Shari and Franke’s sisters that this arrest is a long overdue day of justice.

Abuse rumors have circulated for years in the media and among the general public. In 2020, the channel was heavily criticized when Chad revealed in a video that he had been forced to sleep on a beanbag by his parents for many months as punishment for a prank he had perpetrated on his sibling.

Concerns were also raised when Eve said that Franke had refused to bring her lunch to school when she was 6 because she wanted to teach Eve a lesson.

The couple denied any misconduct at the time, and Franke later retracted her denial.

People don’t realize that we give our kids a say in everything, she remarked. “We’re trying to instill a sense of independence in our kids,” we said.

Serious injuries, such as burns, malnutrition, broken bones, brain injuries from beating or shaking, or asphyxia, are considered acts of severe child abuse in Utah.

Franke may spend up to 15 years in jail for each count against him. Both Franke and Hildebrandt were ordered jailed without bail by the court on Thursday.

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