Maryland ex-mayor Patrick Wojahn was sentenced Monday to 30 years behind bars stemming from over 100 charges related to possession and distribution of child sex abuse material, Breitbart reported. The 47-year-old Democrat previously served as mayor of College Park and had ties to the Biden administration.
Wojahn pleaded guilty after being arrested in March. The openly gay former mayor was well-connected, including frequent visits to President Joe Biden's White House and counting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as a mentor.
However, Wojahn had a dark secret that authorities would later uncover. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children requested the Prince George’s County Police Department investigate the owner of a social media account that was sharing "suspected child pornography" on February 17.
The investigation zeroed in on an account with the handle "skippy_md" that was operated by Wojahn. He had attempted to keep authorities from knowing his identity and location by using a virtual private network.
Once he was found out, Wojahn tendered his resignation on March 2. He had been serving out his second term after first being elected in 2015.
The former mayor and LBGTQ+ activist was originally sentenced to 150 years in prison, with all but 30 years of his sentence suspended, Fox News reported. He struck a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to 140 charges.
The Democrat will be eligible for parole in 7.5 years. Despite his attempt to conceal his identity using the VPN, the Kik and Telegram accounts he was using to share the illicit photos were tied to a government email account.
The content included explicit photographs and videos of children being sexually abused. Some of the sickening materials included instances of adults raping prepubescent boys.
The victims were permitted to read impact statements at Wojahn's trial. They detailed the profound impact of the abuse, with some of the victims reporting profound mental health issues while others said they had been stalked after their identities were revealed.
Still, the judge was relatively lenient on Wojahn. "I do sense the remorsefulness," Prince George's County Circuit Court Judge Karen Mason claimed of the criminal.
"And I do know you take responsibility," she said to Wojahn. The Democrat, who was himself a child sex abuse victim, apologized in the courtroom Monday.
He acknowledged the scars he's left his victims to carry. "I know I contributed to that, and I’m deeply, deeply sorry … I recognize the damage I have caused," Wojahn claimed.
"I want to be the person they know me to be," he said to constituents. "I love you, too, very much," he said to his same-sex spouse.
What Wojahn did was criminal and morally repugnant, even for a Democratic politician. The fact that he could be out on the streets in a handful of years points to a serious problem with the criminal justice system.
