This ‘YouTube Mom’ She died before standing trial
This ‘YouTube Mom’ She died before standing trial. Machelle Hobson, the Arizona mother accused of torturing her seven adopted children who starred in her popular YouTube series “Fantastic Adventures,” has died at a Scottsdale medical facility, authorities say.
Hobson was arrested in March after her adult biological daughter reported her actions to the Maricopa Police Department. Investigators say the 48-year-old Hobson had been orchestrating a creative, moneymaking YouTube enterprise in public while privately abusing the adopted children, who ranged in age from about 6 to 15, by starving and shutting them in a tiled closet for days at a time.
Millions watched her kids on YouTube. Off-screen, she was beating and starving them, police say.
To punish what Hobson perceived as subpar performance on the YouTube show — which garnered nearly 800,000 subscribers and hundreds of millions of views on YouTube — the woman would allegedly beat the children with belts and hangers, assault them with pepper spray and force them to take ice baths, according to court documents.
Hobson pulled the children out of school, police said, and once pinched one boy’s genitals so hard he bled.
Hobson pleaded not guilty to dozens of felony counts, including child abuse and kidnapping. She remained in police custody for several months on $200,000 bond.
But in June, she was released from jail without bond because of health complications, reported Pinal Central. In August, Pinal County Superior Court Judge Delia Neal declared Hobson incompetent to stand trial.
She had been hospitalized, but the judge ruled that her defense team and the Pinal County prosecutor’s office had 15 months to restore Hobson’s competency — meaning they would work to help her arrive at a place where she could answer questions about her judicial proceedings and consult with her attorneys.
