Patrick Wojahn, 47, has resigned from his position as the mayor of College Park, Maryland following his arrest for child pornography-related charges.
According to multiple reports from CNN and NBC Washington, Wojahn was arrested on March 2 after submitting a formal letter of resignation after business hours on March 1. Prince George’s County Police Department (PGPD) revealed the former mayor was arrested for charges that include 56 counts of possession and distribution of child sex abuse material.
The charges break down to 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and an additional 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material. Wojahn, who is in custody at the Prince George’s County Department of corrections, will soon meet a commissioner who will decide “bond, or whether he will be held, or whether he will be released on pre-trial release,” according to Jessica Garth, a representative from the State’s Attorney’s Office. If convicted, Wojahn faces up to 360 years in jail, according to ABC News.
A news release from PGPD reveals the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notified authorities of a suspicious social media account on the app Kik on February 17. According to NCMEC, the “images and video,” believed to be child sex abuse material were “uploaded to the social media account in January 2023.” PGPD investigators then applied “various investigative techniques,” and discovered the account allegedly belonged to Wojahn. The 47-year-old elected official had served as the mayor since 2015 and had been a member of the College Park City Council for eight years prior to his mayoral term.
In a news release from the City of College Park, Mayor Pro Tem Denise Mitchell was announced as the interim official to take the helm of the office. Mitchell will reportedly “serve as presiding officer,” in the days leading up to a special election, which must commence within 65 days, and a “new Mayor has been sworn in.” The candidate elected in the special election will serve in their role until the next mayor is seated on November 5 following the 2023 general election
Elsewhere in the release published by the City of College Park, news of Wojahn’s arrest is described as “difficult and distressing,” for the community. City officials were also reportedly “shocked and disturbed by the news.” In his letter of resignation, Wojahn revealed a search warrant was executed on his home on February 28 and that he will continue to “cooperate, with law enforcement.”
“While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests of our community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction,” Wojahn wrote in the letter.
The former mayor also added that he made the decision to step away in order to “deal with my own mental health.”
According to the New York Times (NYT), PGPD seized cell phones, a storage device and a computer from Wojahn’s home during the execution of their search warrant. Wojahn’s predecessor, Andrew Fellows, who served as mayor of College Park from 2009 to 2015, told NYT that “he had been doing a great job until what happened today,” adding, “There was never anything that would lead to me believe that something like this would happen.” Fellows had known Wojahn since 2005 and supported his candidacy when he made the decision not to run for re-election.
Wojan grew up as a Democrat in Wisconsin and graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002. Fellows said he had previously admired Wojahn’s leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, his advocacy for same-sex marriage and support for a 2020 apology the city issued for a “history of oppression,” in the largely Black neighborhood of Lakeland.