The now-former mayor of College Park, Maryland, Patrick Wojahn, was arrested on child pornography charges Thursday, adding to a growing list of mayors charged with child sex crimes since 2021.
As The Daily Fetched reported on Thursday, Wojahn, a Democrat, was charged with 40 counts of possession of exploitative child material and six counts of distribution of exploitative child material.
Prince George’s County Police Department announced in a press release, “on February 17, 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the PGPD that a social media account operating in the county possessed and distributed suspected child pornography.”
“The image and videos had been uploaded to the social media account in January of 2023. Through various investigative techniques, PGPD investigators discovered the social media account belonged to Wojahn,” the press release added.
But Wojahn did not confirm nor deny wrongdoing in his resignation letter.
“On February 28, 2023, a search warrant was executed on my residence as part of an ongoing police investigation,” he wrote. “I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement. While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests ofour community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction.”
“Many of you have already reached out with well wishes and thoughts, and I am eternally grateful,” he added. “I am stepping away to deal with my own mental health. I ask that you continue to keep me and my family in your prayer.”
Wojahn’s case is just one of many, with at least 12 additional then-current and former mayors facing charges of child sex crimes since 2021.
As Fox News Reports:
Phil Briggs, the mayor of Spencerville, Ohio, resigned last month after he was arrested for allegedly secretly recording his girlfriend’s teenage daughters while they undressed.
Ted Tomaszewski, the former mayor of Mansfield Township, New Jersey, was charged in January with sexual assault, luring and child endangerment. He is accused of engaging in multiple sex acts with a 15-year-old in 2022 after leaving office in 2014.
Matthew McIlravy, the mayor of Pilot Point, Texas, resigned in June 2022 just months after taking office after he was charged with online solicitation of a minor under the age of 14.
James Montgomery, the former mayor of Athens, Georgia, pleaded guilty in August 2022 to sending obscene material to a minor when he was mayor in 2020. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
Kevin Hohn, the former mayor of Brooksville, Florida, was charged in February 2021 with producing child pornography. He was sentenced one year later to 15 years in federal prison.
Donald McLeod, the former mayor of Severance, Colorado, was sentenced in December to serve three years of supervised probation after pleading guilty to the promotion of obscenity to a minor. He was accused of meeting up with a 17-year-old boy for sex in April 2021.
Carl Johnson, the former mayor of West Bountiful, Utah, and a former bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was charged in September 2022 with sexually abusing three girls under the age of 13. He pleaded not guilty to seven counts of aggravated abuse of a child.
Donald McKinney, the former mayor pro tem of Pickens, South Carolina, was charged in October 2022 with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was accused of groping and performing oral sex on a victim between 14 and 16 years old while he was still mayor pro tem.
Scott Saunders Jr., the former mayor of Smithville, Texas, was arrested twice in 2021 on a total of five charges, including sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. The arrests came four months after Saunders resigned as mayor, saying he wanted to focus on his family and mental health, KXAN reported.
Dennis Doyle, the former mayor of Beaverton, Oregon, was sentenced in January to six months in prison for downloading child pornography on his home computer while he was still mayor.
Robert Jacob, the former mayor of Sebastapol, California, was arrested in April 2021 on suspicion of sexually assaulting a minor. In January, he pleaded no contest to include contacting the victim with the intent to commit a specific offense, arranging to meet the victim to engage in lewd and lascivious acts and committing acts of sexual abuse against a victim under age 15. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 23.
Walter Hill, the former mayor of Mosses, Alabama, was charged with first-degree rape in November 2021. He had previously served prison time after pleading guilty in 2017 to a charge of using his office for personal gain.
READ MORE: Former California Democratic Mayor Pleads No Contest to Multiple Child Sex Crimes
