Jodi Hildebrandt Admitted to Forcing One of Ruby Franke's Children to Jump Into a Cactus

On Aug. 30, 2023, Ruby Franke's 12-year-old son knocked on the door of his neighbor's house, looking for help. "I was wondering if you could do two favors," said the emaciated child. He then changed his mind and simply asked to be brought to the nearest police station.

Within hours of this exchange, Utah police were knocking on the door of Jodi Hildebrandt's home. Franke and her children were living there at the time. The two women were parenting vloggers, but things were not as they seemed.

Franke was already in the mommy vlogger game when she met Hildebrandt, a licensed mental health counselor. The two launched a YouTube channel focused on disciplinary methods for children and offered parenting classes.

Behind the scenes, the women were abusing Franke's children. Within hours of Franke's son's escape, the two women were arrested. In December 2023, Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse. Where is she now? Here's what we know.

Hildebrandt and Franke were both sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison but can serve no more than 30. Ultimately the length of their prison time will be determined by the state's parole board. Hildebrandt is currently incarcerated at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.

Since her arrest, the house where the disturbing child abuse occurred was put on the market. According to Realtor.com, it was listed in January 2024 for $5.3 million and as of April was reduced by $305,000.

It was in this house that Hildebrandt said she was aware of the abuse and actively participated in it, per the BBC. Specifically, Hildebrandt forced one of Franke's children to jump into a cactus "multiple times."

In April 2012, Hildebrandt was put on probation for 18 months after violating a confidentiality agreement. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, she shared private information about a patient with his LDS Church. Although this patient said Hildebrandt's claims were not true, he still lost church privileges and was kicked out of Brigham Young University.

The Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL) laid out 22 conditions Hildebrandt had to meet in order to keep her license.

Hildebrandt was told she had to work under a DOPL supervisor who would "sit in on, videotape, or audiotape at least one clinical session a month and review 20 percent of her patient files," per their report. There was also a chance Hildebrandt would have to undergo her own psychiatric evaluation, but she did later admit her "actions violated state law and the American Counseling Association's code of ethics."

The incidents dated back to 2008 when Hildebrandt was treating a married couple called John and Jane Doe, in the DOPL report. "She spent hardly any time knowing about my life," John told The Salt Lake Tribune after agreeing to speak with them.

"She didn't want to talk about my personal goals or my progress. She would only threaten me that if I didn't take more sessions and have my wife take more sessions, the alleged addiction would destroy my life."

Hildebrandt also hired Jane to work at her clinic without making her aware of the complicated issues that could arise from a blurred dynamic. When John began to question Hildebrandt's methods, she increased their monthly fees from $1200 to $2000. He began to believe she was using his personal issues for professional financial gain while lying about what was really going on.

"We came there for marriage counseling, and she pulled us into her porn marathon," he said.