Md. UPPER MARLBORO – More than three weeks after Wojahn admitted guilt to 140 counts of child pornography-related charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, the Prince George’s County Circuit Court judge on Monday, November 20, sentenced queer former Mayor of College Park Patrick Wojahn to 30 years in prison.
Judge Karen Mason sentenced Wojahn to 150 years in prison with a 120-year suspension after agreeing to carry out the plea deal. He also had to serve 30 years.
Wojahn may be eligible to apply for release on parole under Maryland’s sentencing laws after serving 25% of the 30-year sentence, which could lead to his discharge after seven and a half years, the judge and the lawyers noted.
Wojahn’s associates and longtime political followers were shocked to learn in March of this year that he had been arrested after police searched his College Park home and seized several cell phones, tablets, computers, and backup devices containing videos and images. This led to two indictments alleging possession and distribution of child pornography.
He entered a guilty plea to 140 counts, including 40 counts of possessing child pornography with the intention of disseminating it, 60 counts involving the distribution of child pornography, and 40 charges of possession of such material.
Shortly before his arrest, he announced his resignation as mayor, having served in that capacity since 2015.
At the sentencing hearing, Wojahn’s spouse, mother, sister, and 13 friends gave testimony. The majority pleaded with the judge to consider Wojahn’s contributions as a family member, friend, and elected official throughout his life despite the fact that they understood the severity of the charges against their loved one and friend. Several of the friends urged the judge to make arrangements for Wojahn to receive psychological health-related services after claiming that his actions were influenced by his struggles with addiction.
Sister Jeannine Gramick, a Roman Catholic nun who co-founded the LGBT Catholic support firm New Ways Ministry, and Francis DeBernardo, the organization’s current executive director, were among those who gave testimony. Thomas Bower, an elder with the LGBT Catholic organization Dignity Washington, of which Wojahn has been a member, also testified.
Judge Mason announced that she would send Wojahn to the Patuxent Institution, a maximum-security custodial facility in Jessup, Maryland, that specializes in offering mental health services to its male and female residents. Wojahn has been held without bond since his arrest in March of this year.
Mason also stipulated in her sentence that Wojahn must complete five years of supervised probation after being released from prison, declare himself a sex offender, and refrain from engaging in unsupervised contact with children.
The testimony from friends and family came after P.G. County Assistant State’s Attorneys Jessica Garth and Monica Meyers argued that those who own and distribute child pornography are to blame for the anguish of child sex abuse victims who are compelled to participate in the creation of the videos and images, even if, as in Wojahn’s case, the perpetrators do not create the images or have any direct contact with the kids portrayed in them.
Wojahn is accused of uploading and/or sharing dozens of videos or still images on the social media site Kik that show adolescent boys having sex with one another or masturbating, according to police and prosecutors in charging documents.
The two attorneys revealed that they had identified 52 of the youths who were shown in the video or still photo images that officers had seized from Wojahn’s house with the aid of law enforcement officials and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which surprised some in attendance at the sentencing hearing. The 52 children who were identified at the time—the majority of whom are now adults—were from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Russia, Portugal, and other Western nations, according to counsel Meyer at a press conference held after the sentencing hearing.
The two P.G. County prosecutors claimed they were able to present remarks from or case studies for about 42 of the people listed as victims at the sentencing hearing by projecting them onto two big screens in the court using information they learned from law enforcement officials both domestically and abroad. Meyer read each statement as it was projected, with the majority of the victims claiming that being forced as children to participate in the creation of sexual images had long-lasting negative effects on them.
Meyers pointed out that while prosecutors presented victim impact statements for about 40 of the adolescents identified in the video clips and pictures, Wojahn had hands and assisted in disseminating images of “hundreds more on his devices” who were not identified.
Meyers pointed to a picture that the prosecution displayed on the big screen in the court during Monday’s sentencing hearing of an elementary school in College Park, close to where Wojahn lived, in an effort to draw attention to the significant number of sexually abused youths in those videos or still images.
At the press conference, Meyers stated that Wojahn had more victims than
that on his phone and that his own primary school, which is located a half-mile away from his home, had fewer than 500 learners. She claimed that he had memorialized more than 500 victims who had been sexually assaulted, raped, and tortured using his system.
At the press event, Assistant State’s Attorney Garth stated that “these are not victimless crimes, even though the victim is separated from the person who is abusing them by a computer screen.” “They are real people.” They suffer real harm, both psychologically and physically, she claimed. “And for the rest of their lives, they will have to deal with what happened to them.”
Aisha Braveboy, the counsel for P.G. County State, thanked the team of attorneys and police investigators who worked on the Wojahn case and called the press conference.
“No child should be subjected to sexual abuse,” according to Braveboy. She claimed that “no child deserves their images to be seen by hundreds of thousands or even millions of people on the internet or any other system.” We are confident that Mayor Wojahn recognized the gravity of his actions and wanted to accept responsibility by accepting this plea deal.
Before Mason gave her ruling, Wojahn, who was wearing an orange jail suit, was the last to speak at the hearing. Wojahn and many of the other speakers at the hearing did not use microphones, so it was difficult to hear much of what was said.
He could be heard saying, “I want to apologize.” “I don’t know what happened.” He continued, crying as he spoke, “I can’t explain what changed me. To all of my friends, I want to apologize.” He said, “I’m sorry to my family.” He finally expressed his love for Dave Kolesar by turning to face him. Both were sobbing as Wojahn was speaking.
He said, “I hope what I went through will help others get help who need help.” “I sincerely hope that I will be able to fully recover.” I want people to know that recovery is possible.
David Moyse, Wojahn’s attorney, emphasized that as soon as P. G. County police entered his home with a search warrant in March, his client had fully cooperated with the investigation into his actions. Moyse urged the judge to consider all the positive aspects of Wojahn’s career despite the fact that much of what he said could not be heard due to the poor sound system in the court.
