Elementary School Principal Charged With Trespass, Defecating On Property

Tyhee Elementary School principal Lyla Ann Wolfenbarger has pleaded innocent to a misdemeanor trespassing charge for allegedly defecating on a local man’s property.

Wolfenbarger, 46, said on Thursday that she had been advised by her lawyer not to comment on the case. She faces up to six months in jail and a $300 fine if convicted.

The charge was filed after Richard Clothier told authorities he saw Wolfenbarger entering his property on Feb. 2 at a fence line posted with a no-trespassing sign, then defecating near a juniper.

“It was just bizarre,” he said. “It just floored me to learn she was an educator.”

Clothier, who has never met Wolfenbarger, said he became aware last September that someone was defecating on his property, apparently on Sundays. He said he repeatedly found human feces and toilet tissue near trees at the southeast side of his 10-acre parcel.

Clothier called the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office in January and was told to photograph anyone he spotted entering his property. He said he hid in the trees on Feb. 2 and saw a woman jogger cross the fence line, defecate and leave.

Clothier said he took several photos from his property, then got into his truck and followed the jogger, stopping occasionally to take more photos of the woman. He turned his film over to the sheriff’s office.

The following Sunday, Clothier said, the same jogger ran by his property again. She did not enter but yelled out, “Big bad Richard” as she passed, Clothier said.

He called the sheriff’s office, and a patrol officer soon stopped the woman and a man driving on the road near her. The woman identified herself as Wolfenbarger and the man was identified as her husband.