Minnesota (WQOW) - Todd Hoffner's wife calls the charges against her husband ridiculous. Last week, the former UW-Eau Claire football coach was charged with creating and possessing child pornography.
Hoffner is the Minnesota State-Mankato football coach. He coached the Blugolds football team for seven seasons before leaving for another job six years ago. He's accused of creating videos of his three kids who are five, eight and nine years old.
Investigators say the videos show them posing nude, jumping around. In another video, Hoffner allegedly wakes up his daughter and tells her to go to the bathroom. The video continues with the camera on the child's underwear. The videos were discovered when he turned in his university cell phone for repairs.
"My family does what every family does, we take videos and pictures of our kids in all their craziness," says Melodee Hoffner, wife.
Melodee Hoffner says she and her husband were in shock when he was arrested. Melodee is a licensed school counselor. She says she is fully aware of the signs of children who have been, or are being, abused.
"I assure you our children have not been exploited or abused," says Melodee Hoffner. "They are healthy physically, mentally and emotionally and have normal relationships with family, friends and teachers."
Todd Hoffner is free on bail. He's on leave from his job. Based on the charges, UW-Eau Claire started its own investigation into Hoffner. On Monday, the university said its review should be wrapped up by the end of the week.
Last week, WQOW News 18 did not feel comfortable identifying the children or the explicit details because we typically avoid doing that in a case like this. After hearing Monday's statements from Melodee Hoffner, in which she identified her own children publicly, we felt we should share these details. It's another piece of the puzzle. If you want to read the criminal complaint, it's posted under ‘More Information' on this page.
