Ruby Franke’s estranged husband sues Jodi Hildebrandt for negligence, distress on behalf of him and his kids

Ruby Franke’s estranged husband, Kevin Franke, filed a lawsuit against her former business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, over the women’s abuse of the couple’s kids.

According to Utah court documents obtained by KUTV, Kevin sued Hildebrandt for “intentional infliction of emotional distress,” “negligent infliction of emotional distress” and “negligence” for himself and two of the six children he shares with Ruby.

In the docs, Kevin claimed his estranged wife, 42, moved their kids into Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah, without “advising” him from May to August 2023.

During that time, he alleged that two of his four minor children experienced abuse while living there.

Kevin claimed Hildebrandt wrongfully detained the two minor kids — identified in the docs as “R. F.,” 11, and “E. F.,” 9 — “often confining them to a room in the home and/or basement of the home, from which they were not allowed to leave without the permission of the Defendant or Ruby Franke.”

“These children were strictly prohibited from leaving the premises of the Ivins home, under threat of further or increased punishment (described hereinafter) or going to jail,” the court docs state.

Kevin claimed that Hildebrandt “committed physical torture” towards R. F., “who was forced to do physical
tasks for hours and days at a time,” including wall sits, carrying boxes up and down the stairs, and working outside.

“R. F. was forced to do outside labor without shoes and in the summer heat (in Southern Utah),” read the documents. “He was forced to stand in the direct sunlight for several days. He was forced to remain outside at all hours of the day and night for extended periods of time.”

Kevin alleged that his son was denied access to adequate water and was only given plain meals like chicken and rice while the others in the house ate “regular and more flavorful meals.”

When R.F. attempted to escape Hildebrandt’s home in July 2023, he was allegedly captured by the defendant and his mom, Ruby, and “his hands and feet thereafter were regularly bound, including being tied to multiple weights.”

Kevin claimed that R.F. and E.F. were repeatedly told by their mom and Hildebrandt that they were “evil and possessed.”

E.F. was allegedly “forced to work outside in the heat, barefoot” and “was forced to run barefoot on dirt roads for an extended period of time, repeatedly injuring her and sunburning her feet.”

Additionally, she was allegedly “forced or coerced to jump into a cactus multiple times.”

Due to the abuse, Kevin — who filed for divorce from Ruby in November 2023 — said the “children’s personalities, emotions and psyches were so damaged and altered that it was beyond Father’s capability to restore them without professional intervention of State’s resources through the Juvenile Court.”

Last August, Ruby and Hildebrandt were arrested after R.F. escaped to a neighbor’s home, where the malnourished child asked for food and water.

The disgraced vlogger and her business partner were both sentenced to up to 60 years in prison for four counts of aggravated child abuse. (Each count carries a term of one to 15 years, which would be served consecutively.)

The women, however, will only serve 30 years maximum due to a Utah law that caps imprisonment time on consecutive sentences.

Kevin — who had been separated from Ruby for more than a year when she was arrested — filed for guardianship over the former couple’s 16-year-old daughter, Abby, in February.

He is also seeking to regain custody of their four minor children.