A Prince George’s County grand jury indicted former College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn Wednesday on 80 counts of child pornography charges.
Wojahn was arrested on March 2, the day after he resigned as mayor. He was charged with 56 counts when he was arrested.
The charges are 40 counts of promotion or distribution and 40 counts of possession of child sex abuse materials. The offenses occurred in January.
“This is an unprecedented case in our county in which a former elected official has been accused of a crime of this nature,” Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy said in a statement.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had identified and alerted police in February to a Kik account with the child sex abuse materials. Wojahn was linked to the account because his College Park government email was listed as the recovery for the email address used to create the Kik account, according to charging documents. Wojahn’s phone number was also linked.
Wojahn told investigators in a statement during his arrest that he possessed child sex abuse materials and implied that he may have sent them to other people, according to the charging documents.
[Ex-College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn held without bond following child pornography charges]
Wojahn was the mayor of College Park since 2015 and served as a College Park City Council member from 2007 until 2015.
A judge held the mayor without bail on March 6, and said he would be a danger to the community if released.
Jessica Garth, the chief of the special victims and family violence unit, said during Wojahn’s bail hearing that his actions create a market for child porn, and in turn, child rape.
“The charges contained in the indictment are serious, and we will continue to work with law enforcement to investigate and follow any new leads that may be uncovered,” Braveboy said.
The former mayor’s initial hearing is scheduled for April 21. The case will be heard in Prince George’s County Circuit Court.
