Kevin Franke, the ex-husband of former family vlogger and convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, has filed a lawsuit against Jodi Hildebrandt, alleging that she used her status as a mental health professional to manipulate and isolate him from his family.
The medical malpractice suit filed in Utah alleges that Hildebrandt misrepresented herself as a psychologist while acting as Franke’s licensed clinical mental health counselor, according to KUTV.
Hildebrandt, who was business partners with Ruby and is also a convicted child abuser, is accused of gross negligence, deceit, and abuse of her role, according to the lawsuit.
Franke claims that while he sought therapy to strengthen his marriage, Hildebrandt misused her position to manipulate and isolate him – contributing to the collapse of his marriage and severing ties with his children.
“She was in a position of trust,” the complaint states, alleging Hildebrandt diagnosed Franke with a slew of negative personality traits and advised him to cut off communication with his wife and children, claiming his presence would harm them.
The lawsuit comes after the criminal convictions of both women in February 2024, who are serving sentences of up to 30 years in prison for the aggravated child abuse of Franke’s young children.
In August 2023, the couple’s 12-year-old son escaped from Hildebrandt’s home and ran to a neighbor for help. He was emaciated, bound with duct tape, and had visible wounds. When police responded, they found his 9-year-old sister hiding in a closet, also malnourished.
The two children were held in a “work-camp like setting,” regularly deprived of food, water, and beds, and forced to perform physical labor in extreme heat, according to the Washington County Attorney’s Office.
The abuse was motivated by “religious extremism,” with Ruby and Hildebrandt believing it would drive out evil spirits and teach repentance for “imagined sins.”
Franke, whose divorce to Ruby has since been finalized, was estranged from her and children at the time the abuse occurred, at the insistence of Hildebrandt, the lawsuit claims.
He claimed that he was not aware that his children were living in Hildebrandt’s home and being abused while she continued to provide him mental health counseling.
Hildebrandt described Franke as “lustful, narcissistic, manipulative, deceptive, controlling, and selfish,” and told him he required her professional services to overcome these perceived faults, according to the lawsuit, which also alleges that Hildebrandt manipulated Ruby into accepting this diagnosis and supporting its resulting treatment plan.
She also went so far as to label Franke a “lover of darkness,” a “lover of Satan,” and accused him of hiding “something very dark and evil,” according to the lawsuit, which claimed Hildebrandt instructed him to write letters about his perceived flaws, and then encouraged Ruby to use them as leverage during their divorce.
The lawsuit claims Hildebrandt even exploited Franke’s religious devotion, telling him that losing his job at Brigham Young University, where he was fired from in June 2023, would aid in his recovery, and that “men like him were not worthy to work at BYU,” she said, according to the suit.
Franke says he paid Hildebrandt $900 per month for the weekly therapy sessions and an additional $300 for participation in an online men’s therapy group.
The lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks to target Hildebrandt's personal assets. However, according to 2News Investigates, Hildebrandt’s $5 million home in Ivins, Utah, was recently pulled from the market, and it is not known what assets she has left.
