Sons of Maricopa 'YouTube Mom' charged with sexual misconduct with minors
JIMMY JENKINS Arizona Republic
Two sons of a Maricopa "YouTube Mom," who was indicted on child abuse charges, have been charged with sexual misconduct with minors.
An indictment from February in Maricopa County Superior Court accuses Logan and Ryan Hackney of several counts of sexual misconduct with minors.
Attorneys for the Hackneys did not respond to a request for comment.
The Hackneys are the adult sons of Machelle Hobson, She was arrested in 2019 and accused of beating and starving seven adopted children who she forced to produce popular YouTube videos in their Pinal County home in the city of Maricopa.
Police said the children were pepper-sprayed in the face, beaten or locked in a closet for days on end without food or bathroom breaks for forgetting a line in their video script or for not following directions.
The case gained international media attention. Hobson's Fantastic Adventures channel on YouTube attracted 800,000 subscribers and nearly 350 million page views, earning her tens of thousands of dollars.
Pinal County prosecutors charged Hobson with 30 felony counts of child abuse and kidnapping involving five of her adopted or fostered children.
She pleaded not guilty, but while in Pinal County's custody suffered a non-traumatic brain injury, was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and died in a hospital six months later.
Her sons were never charged in connection with the abuse allegations. They were arrested but released without charges after police suspected them of failing to report the alleged abuse of their adopted and fostered half-siblings.
It's unclear if the February indictments from a Maricopa County grand jury are connected to the Fantastic Adventures case because many of the details in the new cases are sealed.
The Pinal County Attorney's Office declined to comment on the new charges.
Maricopa County Attorney Chief of Staff Jennifer Liewer said, "There is not a statute of limitation on sex abuse crimes and our office will seek indictments on crimes, when there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction, regardless of when an incident occurs."
"Because this is a pending case, we can’t provide further comment," she added.
Logan Hackney, 31, faces four counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. Three of the counts are class two felonies, and one is a class six felony.
Arizona law ranks felonies from class one, the most serious, to class six.
The indictment alleges Logan Hackney engaged in sexual intercourse and had sexual contact with two minors under the age of 15 during different time periods ranging from June 2008 to June 2013.
At an arraignment on May 5, Logan Hackney pleaded not guilty to the charges. A date has been preliminarily set for Aug. 31 to assign a trial date. Hackney was offered a $20,000 bond but has not paid it and is still in MCSO custody.
A separate indictment from February charges his brother Ryan Hackney, 29, with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor. Both counts are class two felonies. The indictment alleges Ryan Hackney engaged in sexual intercourse or contact with one victim under the age of 15. The time span of the alleged conduct is on or between Aug. 1, 2011, and March 1, 2012.
He pleaded not guilty on March 24. Hackney's trial date, for now, has been scheduled to be assigned on Aug. 17.
Hackney paid a $25,000 bond and was released but is under electronic monitoring.