A La Crosse man who serves as the leader of a religious foundation dedicated to helping orphans was arrested Thursday afternoon for possession of child pornography.
Ray J. Wigdal, 61, was in the La Crosse County Jail without bond for a single charge Thursday evening after being taken into custody by the Shelby Police Department and Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations.
More information on the investigation was not immediately available Thursday.
Wigdal is listed as the CEO of the Mordecai and Esther Foundation. The foundation’s website proclaims it to be dedicated to providing medical care for “children who were born with bodily deformities” and other services to meet the needs of orphans overseas in Sierra Leone and Pakistan.
Wigdal has no criminal history in Wisconsin; however, he was at the center of a controversy in China in 2014. At the time, Wigdal was caring for 11 orphans, including a girl named Phoebe who died Nov. 24, 2014. A Beijing outlet called The Beijinger reported at the time that authorities suspected Wigdal of inflicting injuries that resulted in the girl’s death.
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In a YouTube video recorded April 9 at Grandad Park in La Crosse, Wigdal said Chinese communists deliberately starved the girl while she was in the hospital and blamed her death on him.
Jourdan Vian can be reached at jvian@lacrossetribune.com or follow her on Twitter at @Jourdan_LCT.