‘TAKES RESPONSIBILITY’

Mommy Vlogger’s Business Partner Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse

That Jodi Hildebrandt helped “torture” Ruby Franke’s children was only discovered after a 12-year-old boy escaped their Utah home in August.

Jodi Hildebrandt, a Utah therapist and the business partner of YouTube “momfluencer” Ruby Franke, pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse on Wednesday. Hildebrandt was arrested in August alongside Franke after one of Franke’s six children escaped from the family’s home with open wounds and duct-tape marks around his ankles and wrists. Both women were slapped with six counts of child abuse, with Franke agreeing to a plea deal earlier this month that saw a judge drop two of the charges. Hildebrandt agreed to a similar deal, with her agreement detailing the physical and emotional “torture” she put the children through. As a part of her earlier deal, Franke had agreed to testify against her former partner, but Hildebrandt’s attorney insisted to reporters outside the courthouse that she had made the decision to plead guilty before the YouTuber. “She takes responsibility,” the lawyer said, according to a video posted by a KSL-TV reporter. And it is her main concern, at this point, that these children can heal—both physically and emotionally.” Like Franke, Hildebrandt will be sentenced on Feb. 20.