MARICOPA, AZ — A woman in Maricopa, Arizona, who runs the popular YouTube channel "Fantastic Adventures," has been arrested, accused of physical abuse against her seven adoptive children.
Maricopa police say that on March 13, a woman came to their department and said her mother had been abusing her siblings.
According to a police report, she said the siblings were left in locked closets for days at a time, pepper sprayed and left with no food or water for days on end by their adoptive mother, 48-year-old Machelle Hobson.
Police went to the home and allegedly found a child in a closet wearing a pull-up diaper and no other clothing. The closet did have a lock on it, but it was not locked at the time.
Police say they children appeared pale, underweight and had bags under their eyes.
One of the children told police they were pepper sprayed numerous times as punishment by his mother, among other physical abuse.
"I either get beat with a hanger or belt, or a brush, or get pepper sprayed from head to toe.”
The others described similar abuse, including abuse to their private parts and being forced to take ice baths.
Police say the children were also forced to participate and “act” in the popular YouTube series that Hobson filmed in their home. Several of the children said if they forgot lines, or tried not to participate, they would be physically abused as punishment.
Police interviewed one of Hobson’s adult sons, while the other chose not to speak. Logan Hackney said he and his brother Ryan discussed reporting the abuse, but never did.
Logan allegedly admitted to knowing about the physical abuse, and said they would sneak the children food when possible.
When questioned, Machelle "denied the pepper spray, denied the ice baths and stated the only forms of punishment she uses is having to stand in the corner, getting spankings and being grounded,” according to police paperwork.
Logan and Ryan were booked into Pinal County Jail for seven counts each of failing to report abuse of a minor. Machelle was booked into Pinal County Jail for two counts of molestation of a child, seven counts of child abuse, five counts of unlawful imprisonment and five counts of child neglect.
ABC15 reached out to YouTube about the woman's video channel and they confirmed the channel was demonetized once the company was made aware of the arrest.
"We take safety on YouTube very seriously. We work closely with leading child safety organizations and others in our industry to protect young people. When we’re made aware of serious allegations of this nature we take action, which may include suspending monetization, or, upon conclusion of an investigation, terminating channels."
