Notable Palo Alto activist arrested in child sexual exploitation sting
Bob Wenzlau, a prominent Palo Alto environmental activist, was arrested Thursday after he solicited explicit images from a detective posing as a 12-year-old girl, Palo Alto police said in a press release.
The undercover online child exploitation investigation began when law enforcement in Georgia sent information to Palo Alto police about a suspect who sent photos of himself and child sexual abuse material to a Georgia police officer posing as a 12-year-old girl on an anonymous communications app. Palo Alto police identified the suspect, who provided his cellphone number to the undercover officer and used it to send the photos, as Wenzlau, 67.
In their own investigation, Palo Alto detectives also made an undercover account on the same app, also posing as a 12-yearold girl, according to the statement. Four days later, Wenzlau found the Palo Alto undercover account in the app and proactively messaged it, police said. He provided the same cellphone number to the undercover Palo Alto detective and sent photos of himself. Police are not sharing which app was used, citing an ongoing investigation.
Over multiple days of communication, Wenzlau solicited the undercover detective for explicit images, sent child sexual abuse material multiple times and made arrangements to meet in person with the intent to perform sex acts, police said. The meeting never occurred.
After police presented the case, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office filed four felony charges against Wenzlau, including contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sex offense, attempted lewd act on a child under 14, possession of child pornography and transmitting harmful matter to a person believed to be a minor, and signed a warrant for his arrest.
Police arrested Wenzlau at his Palo Alto home on Thursday morning without incident and searched his home for evidence of related criminal activity. Wenzlau was booked at the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
Wenzlau is the founder and CEO of the company Terradex, an environmental tech company, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The company’s website was down for maintenance Saturday, and representatives for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wenzlau was also a member of Palo Alto’s Stormwater Management Oversight Committee. A representative for the committee did not respond to a request for comment.
Police believe that there may be other victims and ask anyone with information to contact the Palo Alto Police Department at 650-329-2413.