Ruby Franke Tells Husband In Jailhouse Call: ‘I Don’t Do Naughty Things. I’m a Really Good Girl’
The jailhouse calls with the momfluencer’s now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke, were released about a month after she was sentenced to prison for aggravated child abuse
Moms of Truth/Instagram; Washington County of Utah
Ruby and Kevin Franke and Purgatory Correctional Facility signA series of jailhouse calls within days of momfluencer Ruby Franke’s arrest for child abuse have just been released by Utah prosecutors.
In the recorded phone calls – obtained by PEOPLE – between the Mormon mother of six convicted of aggravated child abuse and her now-estranged husband, Kevin Franke, Ruby blames the Devil for landing her in prison.
"Satan has taken everything away from me that I love,” Ruby said on a Sept. 1 call from Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County, Utah. Crying, she continued: “And I’m a good woman. I don’t do naughty things. I don’t do naughty things. I’m a really good girl.”
“I will do everything that I can to keep truth in our family,” responded Kevin, who has since filed for divorce from his wife with whom he once shared a parenting vlog on YouTube with 2.5 million subscribers.
Two days before, the couple’s youngest son, referred to in court documents as RF, had escaped the family therapist’s home in Ivins, Utah, where he and his younger sister, EF, were held captive, and rang a neighbor’s doorbell, asking for the police.
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RF's ankles were wrapped in duct tape, and he had injuries from handcuffs his mother had used after his first attempted escape a month before, per Ruby's eventual plea agreement obtained by PEOPLE.
Forced to work long hours in the desert sun without shoes, the 12-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl had been kept in the home for months and rarely given food or water, according to the plea agreement.
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Ruby Franke (L) and Jodi Hildebrandt (R) at their first court appearance, Sept. 8, 2023.Related: Former Parenting Youtuber Ruby Franke and Ex-Business Partner Sentenced to Prison for Child Abuse
The women “regularly sought to indoctrinate” RF “and convince him that he was evil and possessed,” per the plea agreement, which added that he was made to believe that the torture he endured constituted “acts of love” and that “the punishments were necessary to repent.”
Ruby and the former family therapist were each sentenced in February to between 4 and 30 years behind bars for the four counts of aggravated child abuse.
In a recorded call with Kevin the day after her arrest, Ruby calls the child abuse case “a witch hunt,” adding: “The Devil’s been after me for years.”
When Kevin tells her that their youngest two children are in the hospital, Ruby responds: “So weird, it’s just not necessary. They’re trying to exaggerate this.”
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Ruby Franke during her first police interview, Aug. 30, 2023.And in another call that same day, she tells Kevin – who was cleared of participating in the abuse – that most people wouldn't understand why she had taken the measures she did against her own children.
“Adults have a really hard time understanding that children can be full of evil and what that takes to fight it,” she told him. “You’ve seen what it takes to fight evil. It’s not the person you’re fighting. And it can look like something it’s not.”
Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune
Kevin Franke (in sunglasses) with his lawyer, Randy Kester, leaving a child welfare hearing at the Fourth District courthouse in Provo, Utah, Sept. 18, 2023.She continued on, and after a pause, Kevin – who was silent throughout her commentary – told her: “I’m preparing to step up” to try to regain custody of their four minor children. (Those children remain to this day in Utah’s foster care system.)
The next day, on the same call where Ruby reminded her husband that she is “a really good girl,” Kevin tells her that she will be restricted from seeing their four minor children.
“I figured such,” she responded, recalling her long drive to Hildebrandt’s home after police had learned of the abuse, which led to her arrest. “God told me. God told me while I was driving, before I called you. I didn't have any information, I didn’t know anything, and the spirit said, ‘Your children are going to be removed.’ And I just, I cried out loud: ‘No I’m not done, I’m not ready.’ And God told me I’m done.”
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.
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