College Park, Maryland, Mayor Patrick Wojahn, 47, was arrested March 2 by Prince George County Police Department officers, according to a department statement.
“Wojahn is charged with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material,” police said, adding he is in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
According to police, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified them February 17 about a social media account in the county they claimed possessed and distributed child pornography. An image and videos were reported uploaded January to the social media account investigators discovered belonged to Wojahn.
Investigators seized several mobile phones, a portable storage device, a tablet and a computer after executing a February 28 search warrant against Wojahn’s College Park residence, police said.
Wojahn subsequently resigned to the elected position he held since 2015, according to a Breitbart report.
He was the first openly gay person elected mayor in the city, according to an NBC News report of his first election victory.
“I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement,” Wojahn said in his resignation letter, according to the Breitbart report.
City officials issued a press release the day of his arrest informing residents.
“We are shocked and disturbed by the news; what has come to light in this investigation is a total surprise to us,” spokeswoman Ryna Quinones said in a March 2 statement. “The City knows that this news is distressing and difficult for our community, and we encourage our residents to seek any help they feel necessary to work through this trying time.”
Quinones noted in a separate release that Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell would immediately assume the mayor’s duties, pending a special election to seat a new mayor.
Wojahn was mentored by Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when he was a mayor, according to the Breitbart report. A Twitter post by Wojahn in July 2019 shows the former mayor with his arm around a smiling, then-Mayor Buttigieg.
“Just two mayors, grabbing a beer together,” Wojahn commented.
Congressman Glen Ivey was endorsed in November 2021 by Wojahn in the race for the congressional seat he went on to win.
“Of course the Congressman condemns his (and anyone else’s) behavior and involvement in child porn,” Ivey’s communications director Ramón Korionoff declared in a statement emailed to Breitbart News. “As state’s attorney his office prosecuted child porn cases. Had this information been known, the Rep. wouldn’t have sought nor accepted Mr. Wojahn’s endorsement.”
“If the voters had known of these allegations he wouldn’t have been Mayor of College Park.”
Wojahn has also crossed paths with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over the years. The former mayor captured a March 2018 event he shared with her while representing the National League of Cities, according to a post on his Facebook page.
He also contributed to campaigns of several Maryland Democrats, according to the Breitbart report. Wojahn donated $1,000 to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) since 2016, according to Federal Elections Commission records. The former mayor also made a $500 contribution to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and contributed $100 to ActBlue, which was earmarked for Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s campaign, according to Breitbart.
It should be noted that a political donation or support does not confer guilt by association.
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