Jodi Hildebrandt, podcast co-host and business partner of infamous mommy vlogger Ruby Franke, pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of felony aggravated child abuse, news station KUTV reports. Similar to Franke’s plea last week, two of Hildebrandt’s counts were dropped as part of a currently undisclosed plea deal. (Representatives for Hildebrandt were unable to be reached for comment.)
Hildebrandt, a former licensed therapist, ran the Utah-based coaching service and parenting “masterclass” ConneXions, which she advertised as a treatment for “those lost and stranded in the darkness of distortion – which addictions, fear, sadness, and all other self-destructive behaviors derive from.” On Aug. 30, she and her podcast co-host Franke were arrested after Franke’s 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s home and ran to neighbors for help. According to police reports, the child had remnants of duct tape on his hands and ankles and appeared emaciated and wounded. A police search of Hildebrandt’s home later in the day also revealed Franke’s 10-year-old daughter, who was in a similar emaciated state.
Both Hildebrandt and Franke were held without bail for almost three months following their arrest. On Dec. 18, Franke pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. The woman confessed to detailed instances of physical and emotional abuse against her two children, including forcing her son to do physical labor for “hours and days at a time,” making him stand in direct sunlight for several days resulting in sunburns, denying him adequate water and food, isolating him from other people and entertainment, and subjecting her daughter to similar physically tasking work resulting in injuries, including being forced to work outside and run barefoot on dirt roads.
Franke has not responded to Rolling Stone’s requests for comment, but her attorneys told People that Franke was “led astray” and subjected to a “distorted sense of morality, shaped by Ms. Hildebrandt’s influence.”
This sentiment has been publicly echoed by multiple former patients of Hildebrandt. In September, an NBC report detailed exclusive interviews from former patients of Hildebrandt, who claimed the therapist isolated them from their families and alleged emotional abuse. In an October interview, a close relative of Hildebrandt, Jessi Hildebrandt, who uses they/them pronouns, told ABC News that while they were sent to stay at Hildebrandt’s home, they were subject to similar abuse but never contacted police.
“She would lock me in this room and write out my sins on paper,” Jessi Hildebrandt told ABC News. “She made me sleep outside in the snow. She duct-taped me. I wasn’t allowed to speak to anyone.”
None of these alleged incidents have ever been pursued as legal cases. Legal representatives for Hildebrandt did not respond to ABC or NBC’s requests for comment.
Under Utah law, Hildebrant faces up to 60 years in prison and a $40,000 fine. Her hearing has yet to be scheduled.