Wolfenbarger’s wife ordered to trial

Rachel Wolfenbarger said she didn’t know about her husband’s child pornography collection, or that he’d been secretly filming a minor under the age of 14.

But the Colusa County District Attorney’s Office said there’s evidence proving she knew everything and remained silent.

After a preliminary hearing last week, Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson ordered her to stand trial on a charge of felony child endangerment. She will be arraigned on March 21.

The case is related to an investigation involving her husband, William Richard Wolfenbarger, arrested in August for allegedly possessing about 4,000 child pornography images on his computer.

While her husband is suspected of engaging in illegal activity, the District Attorney’s Office alleged Rachel Wolfenbarger enabled his behavior by not contacting authorities.

Colusa County sheriff’s Sgt. Mark Contreras testified the FBI was able to obtain text messages and videos from February of last year that suggest she was aware of her husband’s infatuation with child pornography.

Contreras read aloud numerous text messages sent to William Wolfenbarger from a phone number registered to Rachel Wolfenbarger.

One of the messages was: “A lot of the pictures on that site are underage porn. Is that where you spend your time?” Contreras believes the text was referencing a Russian website where most of the images on William Wolfenbarger’s computer originated.

Contreras said the FBI also found webcam videos in William Wolfenbarger’s possession that depicted a minor in a state of undress. Another recovered video, thought to be from a cellphone, shows him installing cameras used to capture footage of the minor. In the same video, a woman believed to be Rachel Wolfenbarger commented that what William was doing was “perverted.”

Rachel Wolfenbarger’s defense attorney, Sukhraj Pamma, argued the prosecution couldn’t prove it was Rachel Wolfenbarger who spoke in the video.

He also referenced text messages sent from Rachel Wolfenbarger’s phone that said her husband was not welcome to live with her anymore. Pamma suggested that was the only way Rachel Wolfenbarger could reprimand her husband’s child porn addiction, because she was emotionally conflicted about calling the police.

Pamma requested that the felony charge be lowered to a misdemeanor. Thompson denied Pamma’s request.

William Wolfenbarger’s next court appearance is March 22.