DISGRACED YouTuber Ruby Franke would have crumbled under piles of evidence against her in trial, and made the right decision pleading guilty to child abuse, a lawyer has said.

The judge sentencing mom of six Franke, 42, on Tuesday could slam her with maximum charges due to the high profile nature of her disturbing case.

In August 2023, the Latter-day Saints influencer was arrested after her 12-year-old son escaped from her business partner Jodi Hildebrandt’s home in southern Utah and begged their neighbors for help.

The little boy was emaciated, with lacerations on his body and duct tape wrapped around his wrists and ankles.

Police in St. George, which is about two hours northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, took in the boy and went to Hildebrandt’s house where they found Franke’s 10-year-old daughter also suffering from hunger.

Four of the mom’s children were taken into state custody and the two women were arrested.

In December, both Franke and Hildebrandt pleaded guilty to four counts of child abuse with two other abuse charges being dropped in the plea deal.

The decision came after the Washington County court heard sickening details of abuse at the hands of Franke, including tying up her two youngest children and convincing them the punishment was done out of love.

The kids were found with open wounds that were being treated with cayenne pepper and honey, a search warrant stated.

All the while, Franke and Hildebrandt, who was a certified counselor, were giving parenting advice on YouTube for Hildebrandt’s program called ConneXions in a segment called “Moms of Truth.”

Franke and Hildebrandt face one to 15 years in prison per child abuse charge and have agreed to serve them consecutively.

‘NO LEGAL DEFENSE’

Ahead of the sentencing, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani exclusively told The U.S. Sun that the women should expect a maximum sentence due to the high-profile crimes.

“The practical reality is that judges are ordinary people and even though they shouldn’t be, they are influenced by media attention,” the West Coast Trial Lawyers president said.

“In my experience, and I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, they don’t want to be perceived as soft in cases like this.”

Rahmani, who has been closely following Franke’s case, said the evidence of child abuse found on the mom’s YouTube channel 8Passengers made proving her innocence difficult.

In a video that YouTube has taken down, her teen son Chad said that he was forced to sleep on a beanbag for seven months after pulling a prank on his sibling.

And Franke told her 2.5 million subscribers in another video that her six-year-old daughter needed to be hungry because she failed to pack herself a school lunch that day.

“There’s really no legal defense here,” Rahmani said.

“They could have pushed the case to trial. It’s a constitutional right to do so, but Ruby and Jodi would have gone down in flames.”

In Rahmani’s opinion, accepting responsibility and showing remorse will be key for the judge to lessen the women’s sentences.

HUSBAND SPEAKS

Franke’s husband Kevin Franke separated from her one year before their young children were discovered by police, and filed for divorce in December of last year.

Kevin asked for justice to be served in a statement shared by his attorney the day before the sentencing.

“The treatment these children received at the hands of those whom the children had a right to trust was horrific and humane,” Law & Crime reported.

“Kevin remains focused on the rehabilitation of these sweet and vulnerable children so that they might return to a normal life as soon as possible.”

This past weekend, Franke’s adult son Chad joked about her going to jail in a video that he shared on Instagram.

Franke’s attorney said in December that she partially pleaded guilty because she didn’t want her children to testify.

She is set to be sentenced at 12 p.m. EST and could face a maximum of 60 years in prison.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Franke and Hildebrandt’s defense attorney for comment.