Clips Surface of Ruby Franke's Parenting Through the Years — from Withholding Food To Taking Away Beds

In the wake of Ruby Franke’s arrest on six felony charges for child abuse last week, social media users have been digging up and circulating clips that the controversial influencer’s critics have long claimed raise “red flags” about her parenting.

Franke, 41, was arrested last week alongside her podcasting partner Jodi Hildebrandt after her 12-year-old son, who allegedly had duct tape on his wrists and ankles, escaped from a window at Hildebrandt’s home in Ivins, Utah and ran to a neighbor's house pleading for food and water, police say.

Police arrived at the home and soon found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter “in a similar physical condition of malnourishment," and transported both kids to a local hospital, police allege.

Afterwards, dozens of police officers descended on the Franke family's home in Springville, Utah, about four hours away, in a dramatic scene that “shocked” neighbors, relieved Franke’s immediate family members, and seemingly vindicated hoards of social media users who long called for child protection services to take a closer look at the divisive social media mom.

Franke is due in court Friday, where she and Hildebrandt are expected to each enter pleas to the charges they face. An attorney for Franke told PEOPLE he would not comment on the case.

Franke documented her strict parenting style on the family’s YouTube channel 8Passengers for years before she transitioned last summer to posting family advice podcasts with Hildebrandt on her ConneXions channel.

YouTube deleted both the 8Passengers and ConneXions pages following the women’s arrest last week, and a spokesperson recently told PEOPLE the platform implemented a permanent ban on Franke in light of her child abuse charges.

But in some 8Passengers videos that are now resurfacing on TikTok, Twitter, and archive internet websites this week, social media users dissect Franke’s videos for examples of behavior many of her viewers have long believed was problematic.

In some clips from Franke’s time filming 8Passengers vlogs, the mother records herself discussing moments when she restricted her children’s access to food and a bed as forms of punishment. In one resurfaced clip, Franke records herself explaining, “I just got a text message from Eve’s teacher, and she said that Eve did not pack a lunch today.” 

Franke then says she told the teacher she’d refuse to bring her then 6-year-old daughter her lunch as a teaching lesson. 

“I know that her teacher is uncomfortable with her being hungry and not having a lunch and it would ease her discomfort if I came to the school with a lunch,” Franke says in the clip, “But I responded and just said Eve is responsible for making her lunches in the morning and she actually told me she did pack a lunch, so the natural outcome is she’s just going to need to be hungry. And hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her a lunch because then she’s not going to learn from the natural outcome.”

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In another clip, Franke records herself with her son Chad, who explains that his mom took his bed away from him for seven months after he played a prank on his sibling. “I was sleeping on a beanbag since October,” the teenager tells the camera as his mother laughs.

The clips pushed concerned viewers to start an online petition in May 2020, which gathered nearly 18,000 signatures. The petitioners hoped their efforts would lead to child protective services to investigate Franke and her husband Kevin Franke, who she filmed 8Passengers videos with since the page launched in 2015. 

After the backlash, the Franke's posted less frequently. Eventually, last summer, Franke announced she was joining Hildebrandt’s ConneXions podcast, where the social media mom began giving controversial advice to other parents online.

In addition to sharing divisive parenting advice, some ConneXions clips that have resurfaced online show Franke downplaying the seriousness of eating disorders, blaming rape victims, and criticizing U.S. immigrants alongside Hildebrandt, among other social and political comments that drew the ire of many viewers.

Franke’s parenting concerned neighbors as well, one told PEOPLE this week. The neighbor, who has lived in the Franke’s neighborhood for about five years and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said multiple families called child protective services in recent months. 

The neighbors were concerned after Franke’s two youngest children – the same two children found last week “malnourished” and “emaciated,” according to police – had suddenly vanished after having a consistent presence in the neighborhood for years.

“It's heartbreaking because these are sweet, engaging, innocent kids and good kids,” the neighbor said. “These were not derelicts that were out vandalizing the neighborhood. These were sweet, engaging kids.”

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.