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The former mayor of College Park pleaded guilty to 140 child pornography charges as part of a deal with Prince George’s County prosecutors that will have him spend 30 years behind bars.
Patrick Wojahn, 47, was indicted by a grand jury in March on 80 counts of possession and intent to distribute child pornography, and then again in a superseding indictment in May on 140 counts, according to online court records. He pleaded guilty to every count of that second indictment — 60 counts of distribution of child pornography, 40 counts of possession of child pornography and 40 counts of possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute — in Prince George’s County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
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The plea, and subsequent sentencing, is one of the largest the county has seen in a crime like this, prosecutors said.
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“Each count represents a victim,” Assistant State’s Attorney Jessica Garth, chief of the special victims and family violence unit, said after the hearing. “Even though he’s not sentenced to jail time for each count, per se, he’s still accepting responsibility for each count.”
College Park mayor resigns and faces child pornography charges
Wojahn, who resigned just before his arrest, will be eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of the sentence, according to prosecutors.
Wojahn’s attorney, David Moyse, said in court that “there were no manufactured images,” meaning Wojahn did not produce any of the child pornography he pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing. His client stood next to him, clad in an orange Calvert County Detention jumpsuit, responding, “Yes, your honor,” as the judge rattled off the more than 100 charges.
Prince George’s County police arrested Wojahn on March 2 after a weeks-long investigation prompted by a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a suspicious account on Kik, a mobile messaging app, according to charging documents. Police said Wojahn uploaded and shared dozens of pornographic videos that depicted prepubescent boys and adult men.
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When authorities searched his College Park home, Wojahn confirmed that the Kik account was his, according to the charging documents. He admitted he used a virtual private network while accessing Kik.
“Furthermore, he advised that he has viewed and possessed files depicting child pornography,” authorities said.
Grand jury indicts former College Park mayor on child porn charges
Garth said in court that police searched several of Wojahn’s electronic devices, which contained over 1,500 videos and images depicting child pornography, and found more than 200 instances of distribution of child pornography across apps that included Kik and Telegram.
As part of his plea, once Wojahn is released and on probation for five years, he must have no unsupervised contact with any children. He also must undergo therapy and treatment and register in the sex offender registry for 25 years.
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“As a former elected official, the College Park community put its faith and support in him to serve each resident and their best interests. Instead, he let them down in a most disgraceful way,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said in a news release. “Our children are both precious and vulnerable, deserving of the utmost protection. The tragedy of them being preyed upon in cases like this cannot be understated.”
Wojahn was mayor of College Park, where the University of Maryland is located, for seven years and served on the City Council for eight years before that.
In a resignation letter, Wojahn wrote, “I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement.”
A sentencing hearing for Wojahn is scheduled for Nov. 20.
Katie Mettler contributed to this report.
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