An Ohio priest who was detained in 2020 was convicted guilty of s*x trafficking of a minor by a federal jury and now faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
Michael J. Zacharias, 56, of Findlay, Ohio has Five counts of s*x trafficking, including the exploitation of a minor and an adult through coercion, fraud, coercion, or inducement brought against him.
Zacharias, a priest at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Findlay, Ohio, who was ordained in 2002, was reportedly found guilty of trafficking three victims when they were children and adults, according to the Department of Justice
Evidence that he encountered the victims when they were young was shown to the jury in court.
Zacharias was enrolled in the seminary program at Toledo’s St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish School at the time.
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His alleged sexual activity with kids dates back to the late 1990s, according to a criminal complaint, and investigators are aware of this.
According to the DOJ, Zacharias began grooming the victims when they were young and used his status as a priest and teacher to establish himself as a reliable adult in their lives.
The victims reportedly caved into Zacharias and the chats grew sexual before he started acting sexually toward the boys.
Additionally, all three boys were addicted to opioids during that time, first to painkillers and then to heroin.
The victims’ testimony during the trial demonstrated how simple it was for them to submit to Zacharias. Zacharias was giving the boys money so they could buy drugs, so they were afraid of losing him as a friend and a father figure, but they were also afraid of losing their relationship with God and going through opioid withdrawal.
One of the victims claimed that if he refused the defendant’s requests for him to perform sexual services in exchange for payment, he feared that Zacharias would molest others, including his younger brother, who was both a victim and a juvenile.
“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 counsellor, suffering withdrawal sickness, and risking sexual abuse of a loved one.”
Zacharias’ sentence has not yet been scheduled, but the DOJ estimates that he will serve a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison.