A 43-year-old Lake Mathews woman accused of trying to aid her husband in covering up alleged sexual abuse of three girls, at least one of whom was in the Riverside County foster care system, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to being an accessory after the fact.
Katrina Frances Tilden was arrested with her spouse, 45-year-old Christopher Gary Tilden, in October following a sheriff’s department investigation.
Katrina Tilden was arraigned on the felony allegation Wednesday before Superior Court Judge Gary Polk, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for March 5 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Tilden is free on a $35,000 bond.
Her husband is charged with three counts of lewd acts, one count of indecent exposure and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting multiple victims in a sex crime.
He’s being held in lieu of $2 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning and is slated to make a court appearance on Jan. 15.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Patrick Montalvo, agents from the Children’s Services Division of the county Department of Public Social Services notified deputies in September that they had received information regarding alleged abuse of three girls at the defendants’ residence, located in the area of Orangemont and Orchard View lanes.
It was not disclosed whether only one, or all three, of the alleged victims were in the foster care system.
“The juveniles stated that while attending a sleepover at a friend’s residence, they had been photographed and sexually assaulted,” Montalvo said.
Detectives followed up, coordinating with the District Attorney’s Office’s Child Exploitation Team to ultimately gather enough evidence to obtain search warrants that were served at the couple’s home on Oct. 24.
They also served a warrant at Tilden’s workplace near the intersection of King Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside, where he was taken into custody without incident. Katrina Tilden was arrested in the same area.
The specific acts allegedly perpetrated by Tilden were not disclosed.
Neither he nor his wife has documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.