The eldest son of disgraced YouTube star Ruby Franke can’t contain his delight at her imprisonment for child abuse.
Chad Franke appeared in a video shared on his girlfriend’s TikTok account earlier this week, beaming and dancing over the caption, “My mom’s in prison” after his significant other joked, “You’d love my mom!”
The now-deleted clip, which fans have since reposted, reportedly was shared three days before Ruby and her ex-business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, were sentenced for torturing the former’s six kids.
A judge sentenced the duo to the terms of their plea — four counts of one to 15 years, served consecutively; however, both will serve 30 years maximum because of a Utah law that caps imprisonment time on consecutive sentences.
Ruby, 42, has no plans to appeal her prison sentence.
Chad, 19, was also seen smiling as he left the courthouse following his estranged mother’s sentencing, during which she emotionally apologized to her “six little chicks.”
“I was the mama duck who was consistently waddling you to safety. I can see now that over the past four years, I was in a deep undercurrent that led us to danger,” she said during Tuesday’s hearing.
“I took from you, your mother. How terrifying this must have been for you. I will never stop crying for hurting your tender souls. You’re so precious to me. I’m sorry.”
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Prior to her arrest in August 2023, Ruby had been estranged from Chad and her eldest daughter, Shari, in light of the abuse they experienced.
Fans and neighbors first expressed concern for the Franke children after some of the family’s YouTube videos, including one in which Chad said he had to sleep on a beanbag for seven months after playing a prank on his brother, appeared to suggest they were being harmed.
Child Protective Services subsequently paid the family a visit, but after speaking to the kids, authorities closed the case.
“It was just so malicious. They knew what they were doing was out of context,” Ruby told Insider of the visit. “They were purely seeking to throw hate. That was their only objective.”
When Ruby was actually taken into custody, Shari, 20, said that she was relieved her mother was behind bars.
“Today has been a big day. Me and my family are so glad justice is being served,” she wrote on Instagram at the time.
“We’ve been trying to tell the police and CPS for years about this, and so glad they finally decided to step up.”
Ruby’s four minor children remain in the care of the state, though her estranged husband, Kevin Franke, filed for a guardianship over their 16-year-old daughter, Abby.
Although the momfluencer previously denied abusing her children, she admitted in her plea agreement to torturing them.
When one of her kids attempted to run away last summer, Ruby bound him using handcuffs on his wrists and ankles and then would use a rope to connect the two sets, so his “arms and lower legs were lifted off the ground,” the plea stated.
She also would hold the child’s “head underwater,” suffocate him by covering his nose and mouth, and kick him while wearing boots.
“With my deepest regret and sorrow for my family and my children, guilty,” she told the judge as she handed in her plea.
