Ruby Franke's husband, Kevin Franke, tried to accuse their oldest daughter, Shari, of breaking into his home. Parenting vlogger Ruby Franke and her business partner, Jodi Hildebrand, were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse in August 2023.
According to a September police report, Kevin said that damage had been done to his home and some electronics had been stolen. He believed his 20-year-old daughter, Shari, was responsible, but a police officer informed him that the Springville Police Department was actually responsible for the damage. They went into the home after obtaining a search warrant.
“I responded by phone to the complainant (Kevin) on the report of a burglary at the home," a Springville police officer wrote in September. Kevin reportedly named his daughter Shari as a suspect. “Kevin stated that Shari is not allowed in the home, and that he believes she entered unlawfully and he wants her charged with burglary," the officer wrote.
The officer explained to Kevin that his daughter was not a suspect; she wasn't the one who caused damage. Kevin reportedly "wanted to have his daughter charged with theft for taking some hard drives out of the house." Officers explained to Kevin that his daughter said she could give the electronics back.
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Shari returned three tablets, three cellphones, three cameras, a stack of written journals, and three passports to the police, and police gave them back to Kevin. The police report said "(Shari's) intent was not to deprive him of any items, she had previously been allowed in the home, and he had not been in the home admittedly for 13 months."
The Utah Division of Child and Family Services was still looking for two of Ruby's six children when Springville police went to Ruby's home address, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Officers broke the door down because no one answered when they knocked. Shari arrived at a neighbor's home and cooperated with the police, according to the publication. Kevin had initially moved out of the house following his separation from Ruby, but is now living there again.
Police told Kevin that Shari went inside the house to get important items for her siblings but Kevin reportedly “did not seem to think was relevant." The fact that Shari returned the items also didn't seem important to him. “In the box was 3 tablets, 3 cell phones, 3 camera/Go Pros, a stack of written journals, and 3 passports for Kevin, Ruby, and Chad,” the officers said, according to KUTV. The exchange in which the items were returned to Kevin by the police has been made public through body camera footage.
"Explain to me again why this was not robbery?” Kevin can be heard asking the officer in the video. The officer explained: "Because it’s a civil issue. You guys are family. She’s been in the house before. You haven’t been in the house in a year. She had interest in the items, she didn’t take them with the intention to deprive you of them, so, theft, that’s the theft code, we have to prove intent to deprive you of the items and that wasn’t her intent in having them so the detective sergeant said that we’re not going to charge her for anything.”
Kevin reportedly said that he would have to do more research on the matter. Ruby and her business partner were arrested after a neighbor called the police. The Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety Department said the child appeared to be “emaciated and malnourished, with open wounds and duct tape around the extremities.” They also said the child was asking for food and water and the child was sent to the hospital. After searching the home, they reportedly found another child in a similar condition.
Kevin's attorney, Randy Kester, has said Kevin was unaware of the alleged abuse because he was separated from Ruby. "If he had even one inkling that his kids were being abused, and that this separation wasn't for any other purpose than to figure out a way between he and Ruby to reunite their family, he would have been down there in two seconds," the lawyer told Law & Crime.
Ruby's YouTube channel, 8 Passengers, had millions of followers, but it was also controversial due to Ruby's strict punishments for her kids. To punish her children for "bad behavior," Ruby shared that she withheld food and Christmas gifts from her kids, among other punishments.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
