Sheldon Demke/St. George News via AP
Franke, 42, received four consecutive 1 to 15-year sentences in prison on Tuesday, one for each of the four counts of felony aggravated child abuse she pleaded guilty to in December. She and her parenting podcasting partnerJodi Hildebrandtwere both arrested last August.
Franke’s estranged husbandKevin Frankeand their two oldest children, daughterShariand son Chad, were in attendance for the sentencing, Kevin’s attorney Randy Kester tells PEOPLE. (The four youngest Franke children remain in state custody with child protective services.)
“I take full accountability for my choices,” Franke said, according toKOMO News, which reported Franke directly addressed her husband at one point.
Franke added: “My charges are just. They offer safety to my family, accountability to the public.”
Ron Chaffin/St. George News via AP
Franke first rose to prominence on YouTube after she and her husband began documenting their daily life in 2015, often filming their experience raising six children.
But the now-disgraced family vlogger began receiving backlash for herabusive parenting style, at timeswithholding food from their children and taking away their bedsas a form of punishment.
Franke shut down her channel and later began co-hosting the controversial “Moms of Truth” podcast alongsideJodi Hildebrandt, a former sex therapist who founded the religious-based “ConneXions” social media network. The two women continued to receive criticism online for their parenting methods.
Both women werearrested last Augustand each charged with felony child abuse after investigators found Franke’s two youngest children “emaciated” and malnourished inside Hildebrandt’s Ivins, Utah, home with physical wounds on their bodies.
Several of Franke’s family members soon denounced her online.
“Finally,” Shari, her eldest daughter,wrote on Instagramthe day Franke was taken into custody, reacting with relief to her mother’s arrest.
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Franke’s three sisters – all of whom are social media influencers who post about their families online – said in a statement their sister’s arrest “needed to happen,” claiming “behind the public scene we have done everything we could to try and make sure the kids were safe” in recent years.
Several neighbors told PEOPLE last September they were “shocked” at Franke’s arrest, though her children went from being a daily presence in the neighborhood to becoming “isolated” from their friends.
In the aftermath of Franke’s arrest, YouTubedeletedthe family’s “8Passengers” channel from its platform and banned its content.
Kevin and the Franke family’s four youngest children are all receiving therapy, Kester says.
source: people.com
