A therapist named Jodi Hildebrandt, who was previously convicted and imprisoned along with Ruby Franke, known as the “evil YouTube mom,” has been accused by a purported victim of misusing child abuse for malicious purposes, leading to the ruin of a client’s life.
The allegations against Hildebrandt include deceiving couples into creating harmful scenarios for one another and extorting large sums of money to treat presumed addictions that may have been exaggerated or entirely made up, all under the guise of battling sexual immorality, as claimed by those who have accused her.
Hildebrandt is behind bars after she and Franke, a mom of six, each pleaded guilty to four counts of abusing Franke’s kids in December 2023.
The Mormon business partners were both sentenced to up to 30 years in prison.
Their illicit activities came to light when Franke’s youngest child managed to escape from Hildebrandt’s residence, described as a nightmarish place, and sought assistance from a neighbor in August 2023. This event revealed a history of dreadful child abuse that had been ongoing for years.
While Franke and Hildebrandt worked together on their parenting and lifestyle YouTube channel called ConneXions Classrooms, Hildebrandt also offered counseling sessions.
Now, one of Hildebrandt’s clients, Adam Steed, has revealed his harrowing experience of attending her marriage counselling sessions.
He claimed it led to the breakdown of his relationship – and his life.
Hildebrandt said that Adam “was the most dangerous man she’s ever met in her lifetime,” he claims to The Sun.
Adam accused Hildebrandt of shaming him for being a victim of child sexual abuse and used it to turn his now ex-wife and community against him.
He was abused by a paedo Boy Scout leader at 14 years old – which he bravely spoke to The Sun about years later.
As part of the Mormon Church, Adam sought marriage counselling to help him and his ex-wife navigate the trauma from the abuse.
He was asked by his bishop to see a therapist who Adam believes to be “charismatic” and “very intelligent” – Hildebrandt.
Adam said he “confided” in her on everything he was struggling with and spoke about it at length.
But his life soon began to unravel in front of him.
Adam told The Sun: “Hildebrandt was operating her therapy group and I was sent to it. I’m a victim of sexual abuse – I [didn’t] want some triggering place with predators around me.
“I [wanted] marriage counseling to help us with some of the trauma from from abuse that I felt inside.
“Jodi Hildebrandt act[ed] like it was this fun talk show group where they laughed about ‘men are from Mars and women are from Venus’ kind of mentality.
“Just laughing… and making fun jokes with it. I didn’t realize at the time how prolifically wrong it was.
“The first thing that this therapist would do, and these other groups do, is to teach you that your own point of view is mentally ill, that you have distortion or illusions.
“But they made fun with it [and] won us over, not thinking it was dangerous.
“Then Jodi separates the men from the women, and then we’re at her mercy.”
Adam claimed that as Hildebrandt drew couples in, she then would work “to destroy people through covert operations”.
He added: “Neither person, neither vulnerable person, understands until she destroys their marriage and has control.”
Another former client of Hildebrandt, Daniel Choate, supports Adam’s claims, revealing horror details in ID’s docuseries episode The Curious Case of Jodi Hildebrandt.
He said: “There wasn’t any aspect of the human condition that she couldn’t pathologize.”
Hildebrandt’s alleged aim of gaining control was achieved by empowering the women she was counselling – including Adam’s ex-wife – and then encouraging them to sever relations with their husbands, both Adam and Daniel claim.
Adam told The Sun: “Jodi was attracted to women that were younger, that were more attractive, that had positions of power and influence.
Jodi Hildebrandt act[ed] like it was this fun talk show
Adam Steed
“She would get these women to to do unimaginable things to other people, and that’s how she would get her power over them. And that’s just one dimension.”
Daniel reported the same as Steed of Hildebrandt allegedly empowering women to gain control of their husbands by making unreasonable demands over them.
He recalled his wife made a list of demands under the therapist’s instruction that banned him from sleeping in bed with her.
“If I didn’t abide by these rules, she let me know that she was going to take the kids and leave,” Daniel claimed.
Hildebrandt launched ConneXions in 2007, according to her LinkedIn.
In 2012, she was put on probation for 18 months after she was disciplined by Utah’s Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, according to documents obtained by NBC News.
The therapist faced “unprofessional conduct” claims after she disclosed private information about a patient with Latter Day Saints church leaders and Brigham Young University officials.
Adam revealed to NBC News that he was the former patient involved in the case.
He told The Sun that despite doing work with his dad to protect fellow victims of sexual abuse, “the next thing I know, it was all weaponized against me”.
Adam said he was told because of the work he had done “to help victims,” that became the reason why he was wrongfully depicted by Hildebrandt as being “unstable to be a father”.
He added: “Jodi Hildebrandt coached my ex-wife through this whole process in details of how to manipulate all the legal people to think it was a different story.”
Adam said her “methods” involved learning “everything” about the individuals to then grow “tons of power and control”.
He revealed that he still keeps in contact with Franke’s ex-husband, Kevin – who relayed just what Hildebrandt thinks of him.
Kevin allegedly told Adam that Hildebrandt “has been completely obsessed with you,” adding that Adam was a “family name… a regular name in my family”.
Jodi was attracted to women that were younger, that were more attractive, that had positions of power and influence
Adam Steed
The Sun has tried to approach Kevin’s attorney to confirm or clarify this statement.
Kevin has never been accused of any crimes or involvement in Hildebrandt’s actions.
When child abuse claims first emerged, Kevin told cops that he couldn’t explain what happened when Hildebrandt entered his family’s life, according to an interview released by prosecutors last year.
He said he was first convinced by Ruby and his friends to join ConneXions Classroom as a self-improvement program.
After joining the group, Kevin was shut out of his own home as Franke grew closer to Hildebrandt, he later told police.
Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke were each charged with six counts of felony aggravated child abuse and were sent to prison six months later for up to 30 years.
But Hildebrandt is challenging her conviction, arguing that she didn’t know her rights when she pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse.
She has called her plea agreement “unlawful” and filed a petition for relief on her own behalf on March 24.
Hildebrandt and Ruby Franke are also being federally sued for their role in an alleged “racketeering scheme”.
The plaintiff, Michael Tilleman, says he is a victim of Hildebrandt’s ConneXions “fraudulent” business.
The lawsuit says that Hildebrandt would “prey on individuals in vulnerable positions who were seeking legitimate mental health services”.
She would also allegedly indoctrinate the victims into sustain abuse in their households, according to the suit.
The defendants have not yet filed a response to the suit.
The Sun has approached The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for comment, as well as The Boy Scouts of America and Jodi Hildebrandt’s rep.
Franke’s horror punishments for children
Starting in May 2023, disgraced YouTuber Ruby Franke journaled about the punishments she imposed on her children.
She appeared to justify the abuse by referring to “Satanic choices” and “the devil’s” influences on her kids’ actions.
Some of the horrific punishments detailed in the journal include:
- Poking her children with cactus needles
- Pouring cold water on the kids
- Whipping with a towel or belt
- Forcing them to stand in the hot sun
- Forcibly dunking her son in the pool
- Forcing them to sleep on the ground
- Restricting food
