Machelle Hobson, the allegedly abusive former proprietor of a popular children’s YouTube channel called Fantastic Adventures, has died before being able to stand trial for a slew of child abuse charges.
In March, Hobson was arrested for abusing her seven adopted children and forcing them to star in highly-viewed YouTube clips, after her 19-year-old daughter reported the abuse to local police in Arizona. Hobson allegedly pepper-sprayed the children, touched them inappropriately, forced them to take ice baths, and locked them in a closet for days without food, water, or the ability to go to the bathroom. Hobson also allegedly took the children out of school to film videos, and threatened to punish them if they didn’t want to participate or forgot their lines.
She was ultimately indicted on 30 counts of child molestation, child abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and child neglect. Hobson’s sons, Ryan and Logan Hackney, were also charged with seven counts of failing to report the abuse of a minor.
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One day after news of the arrest broke, YouTube shuttered the Fantastic Adventures channel, which counted 800,000 subscribers and 250 million lifetime views at the time of its termination. And then in August, Hobson was declared incompetent to stand trial by doctors on behalf of both the state and defense, amid reports that Hobson had suffered a brain aneurysm while in jail, and had been released to a local healthcare facility in early June. At the time, the charges against Hobson’s sons were also dropped.
While local authorities initially believed Hobson would recover to the point where she could be tried, she died yesterday at a hospital in Maricopa County, Ariz., BuzzFeed reports. Her cause of death has not been revealed. Once prosecutors receive a death certificate, the case will be dismissed.
