A Roman Catholic priest, who was arrested in 2020, was found guilty by a federal jury of sex trafficking of a minor and now faces up to life in prison.
Michael J. Zacharias, 56, of Findlay, Ohio, was convicted of five sex trafficking charges, including of a minor and of an adult by force, fraud, coercion, or enticement.
Court document says he molested three boys he met at a Toledo preschool and coerced to continue sexual activity as adults.
The Department of Justice said Zacharias, a priest at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Findlay, Ohio, who was ordained in 2002, was convicted of trafficking three victims when they were minors and adults.
The jury was presented evidence in court showing how he met the victims when they were young.
At the time, Zacharias was in Seminary school at St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish School in Toledo.
A criminal complaint said investigators are aware that his alleged sexual conduct with minors goes back to the late 1990s.
Prosecutors said Zacharias ‘paid the victims to engage in sex acts with him using the victims’ fear of serious harm to compel their compliance.’
They also said the three victims were developing serious drug addictions and the priest ‘waited to propose commercial sex‘ until they were heavily involved in drug abuse.
It was gathered that the victims gave into Zacharias and conversations turned sexual before he became sexual with the boys.
Also, during that time, all three boys developed addictions to opiates, starting out first with pain medications, then later, heroin.
Testimony provided by the victims during the trial showed how easy it was for them to submit to Zacharias.
The boys feared losing him as a father figure and friend but also feared losing their connection to God and going through opioid withdrawal because Zacharias was giving them money to buy drugs.
One of the victims testified that he was afraid Zacharias would sexually abuse his brother, who was not only one of the victims but also a minor, and others if he did not comply with the defendant’s demands to provide sexual services for money.
‘This defendant betrayed the victims in the most inhumane way,’ Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said.
‘He robbed them of their childhood, their dignity and their faith. He inflicted cruel psychological harm, preying on their fears and forcing them to choose between submitting to commercial sex acts, or incurring the pain of losing a father figure or counselor, suffering withdrawal sickness, and risking sexual abuse of a loved one.’
The Toledo Blade reports that Zacharias, 56, was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs and taken to the Lucas County jail to await sentencing.
Defense attorneys had denied any sexual contact when the three were minors and maintained that any contact after they became adults was consensual.
A sentencing date has not been set for Zacharias, but according to the DOJ, he faces a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.
The mother of two of the victims said after the verdicts that she was ‘thankful that the judicial system has removed an evil monster that preys on children, and he won’t be able to hurt another child or young adult.’
‘He’s an evil man, and I will not let him ruin my faith in God,’ she said.
