Buttigieg's 'Buddy' Busted: Gay Mayor Arrested on 56 Child Pornography Charges
The proudly gay mayor of College Park, Maryland, has been arrested on 56 charges related to child pornography.
Patrick Wojahn, 47, once boasted of his mentor/mentee relationship with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is also gay and was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
“I actually met Mayor Pete Buttigieg shortly after I was elected mayor in 2015,” Wojahn said in a 2019 interview with the Washington Blade, an LGBT outlet. “I went to the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting in D.C. in January and he was assigned to be my buddy.”
Wojahn said he attended a White House reception in the Obama era in which his partner and Buttigieg’s would meet.
In speaking of his friendship with Buttigieg, he said his status in the conference of mayors was boosted “in part due to his mentorship.”
Today, Wojahn reminisces how he was “mentored” over the years by Pete Buttigieg. They met when Wojahn went to the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting, where Buttigieg “was assigned to be my buddy.” Their husbands were introduced to each other at a White House reception under Obama. pic.twitter.com/IojSFNUBxN
— Mia Cathell (@MiaCathell) March 2, 2023
On Thursday, however, Wojahn was arrested and charged with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material, according to a news release from the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Detectives arrested and charged 47-year-old Patrick Wojahn with 56 counts of possession & distribution of child pornography. https://t.co/Dn9H1kzkh9 pic.twitter.com/TlspmoUmyl
— PGPDNEWS (@PGPDNews) March 2, 2023
The release said that on Feb. 17, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the department that a social media account within Prince George’s County was suspected of possessing and distributing child pornography.
The material had been uploaded in January, the release said, adding that upon investigation, officers learned the account belonged to the College Park mayor.
On Tuesday, a search warrant resulted in police recovering several cellphones and technology devices. Police arrested Wojahn on Thursday.
He has since resigned as mayor, according to WJLA-TV. The city confirmed the resignation in a statement Thursday.
“Last night, after business hours, Mayor Patrick L. Wojahn submitted his letter of resignation as Mayor of the City of College Park, effective immediately on March 2,” the statement said. “Mayor Wojahn has served in this position since 2015 and on Council since 2007. The City of College Park thanks Mayor Wojahn for his many years of dedicated service.”
In Wojahn’s letter, he said, “It has been a profound honor and privilege to serve the City of College Park since 2007 as a City Councilmember and your Mayor. However, effective immediately, I must resign my position.
“On February 28, 2023, a search warrant was executed on my residence as part of an ongoing police investigation. I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement.”
He added, “Many of you have already reached out with well wishes and thoughts, and I am eternally grateful. I am stepping away to deal with my own mental health. I ask that you continue to keep me and my family in your prayers.”
Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said his department wants to “send a clear message to anyone involved in this type of material that units like this are looking, they’re working every day to make sure that we have a safe county and a safe state.”
College Park resident Drake Allen said he wants the next mayor to be “just a regular mayor who does his job,” according to WTOP-TV.
“I don’t know if this is going to wake anybody up. It should, but it probably won’t,” Allen said.
Resident Michael Weaver called the news “kind of embarrassing. It’s terrible.”
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