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PEOPLE confirmed the news with the Washington County Attorney’s Office in Utah on Wednesday morning. Franke now faces six charges, after she was initially arrested and charges last week with two charges for aggravated child abuse.
A spokesperson for the county attorney’s office said Franke’s podcasting partner Jodi Hildebrandt is also now facing six charges, as well.
The attorney’s office said the six charges each women face center around abuse Franke’s two children allegedly endured.
A press release from the attorney’s office claimed that “each defendant is accused of causing or permitting serious physical injury to the victims in three different ways: (1) a combination of multiple physical injuries or torture, (2) starvation or malnutrition that jeopardizes life, and (3) causing severe emotional harm.”
Moms of Truth/ Instagram
Franke and Hildebrandt were arrested last Wednesday at Hildebrandt’s home in Ivens, Utah, after police say Franke’s 12-year-old son allegedly escaped the house and ran to a neighbor’s home, asking for food and water, police said in a statement.
The neighbor called police and officers arrived at the house, soon finding Franke’s 10-year-old daughter “in a similar physical condition of malnourishment," according to the statement.
Both children “appeared to be emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities” and were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Franke’s two sisters and her oldest daughter Sharihave said in recent days that the kids are now “safe” and recovering, while family members, neighbors, and Franke’s social media followers have spoken out about the news.“Finally,” Shari wrote in an Instagram post last week alongside officers outside her family’s home.“Today has been a big day," she wrote in another post. “Me and my family are so glad justice is being served. We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
One neighbor told PEOPLE this week that Franke initially appeared “friendly and engaging” but in the past year her behavior suddenly changed, while her two youngest kids became less present in the neighborhood.
“She really started isolating her kids,” the neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.
“I think we saw some weird things,” the neighbor added. “But I don’t think anybody thought that these kids were being physically abused to that degree.”
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Franke gained as many as 2.5 million followers on YouTube with her 8Passengers channel, which she and her husband Kevin Franke used to document their daily life as parents to six kids.
After Franke began receiving criticism from followers about her strict parenting, which some commenters suggested was abusive, she stopped uploading videos on the channel and began the Connexions parenting advice podcast with Hildebrandt.
YouTube has since taken down Franke’s two channels and has been permanently banned from the platform, a spokesperson told PEOPLE on Wednesday.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office jail records show Franke and Hildebrandt are still in custody.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
