WASHINGTON COUNTY, Utah — '8 Passengers' mother Ruby Franke and founder Jodi Hildebrandt of the parent counseling service ConneXions were arrested Wednesday night for two counts each of aggravated child abuse.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office confirmed that they had been placed in custody for intentionally or knowingly committing aggravated child abuse at 9:33 p.m.
Earlier Wednesday the Springville Fire Department responded to a Mutual Aid incident at Hildebrandt's residence in Springville at 3:44 p.m. for nearly two hours. It is not yet known if the incident is related to Franke and Hildebrandt's arrest six hours later.
Ruby Franke was behind the '8 Passengers' series which had nearly 2.3 million subscribers on their YouTube channel before it was taken down.
The series is run by the couple Ruby and Kevin Franke, a Mormon couple with six children.
Franke is also a member of the Business Team division of ConneXions, a parenting and business counseling service.
Jodi Hildebrandt is the founder of the company whose mission statement reads:
"We invite and courage healing and facilitate personal growth through impeccable honesty, rigorous personal responsibility and vulnerable humility."
For $75 a week, the company provides 90-minute group sessions moderated by Hildebrandt to "empower each other to heal and change."
They also offer counseling for businesses with an 18-week program on company leadership that costs $14,985.
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