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Crime & Safety

Wife Files For Divorce From Accused Former Professor

Donald Ratcliff charged with multiple counts of child pornography possession.

The wife of former Wheaton College professor Donald Ratcliff wants a divorce in the wake of her husband's arrest on child pornography charges.

Brenda Ratcliff filed for divorce on March 15, citing "irreconciable differences," two weeks after her husband was charged with possessing numerous pictures and videos depicting child pornography. The couple married in 1978 in Texas, according to court records.

Donald Ratcliff remains held in DuPage County Jail on $300,000 bail. He pleaded and is scheduled to return to court on May 2. A judge has ordered Ratcliff to undergo a pyschosexual assessment.

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Investigators tracked pornography downloads to Ratcliff's computer and recovered five computer hard drives and hundreds of DVDs that included images and videos of child rape, fondling and sexually suggestive dancing by girls as young as preschool age, according to prosecutors.

After his arrest, Ratcliff "intellectually rationalized" his reasons for possessing and viewing the materials, prosecutors said at March bond reduction hearing.

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Brenda Ratcliff declined comment on the divorce, but previously Patch that her family would not assist him in posting bond to be released from jail.

"We are devastated by the allegations against him. We fear for his safety as well as our own should he be released," Ratcliff explained in an email to Patch.

The divorce case is scheduled for a July 12 hearing. As of this week, it did not appear - according to court records - that Donald Ratcliff had been served with the divorce papers.

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