Mayor of College Park arrested, charged with 56 counts of child pornography

By ROHAN MATTU

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    BALTIMORE (WJZ) — College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn was arrested Thursday and charged with the possession of child pornography, Prince George’s County police said. The arrest was made the morning after he resigned.

Wojahn, 47, is charged with 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and 16 counts of distribution of child exploitative material.

Police said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified them on Feb. 17 that a social media account operating in the county possessed and distributed suspected child pornography.

The image and videos had been uploaded to the social media account in January, police said. Investigators were able to track the account back to Wojahn.

Detectives served a search warrant at Wojahn’s home on Feb. 28, where they seized multiple cell phones, a storage device, a tablet and a computer.

Wojahn submitted his resignation Wednesday after hours, the city said in a statement. He was charged and taken into custody early Thursday morning.

According to his mayoral profile on the city’s website, Wojahn was born and raised in Wisconsin and got his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2002.

Wojahn served on the College Park City Council for eight years before running for mayor in 2015. Effective immediately, Denise Mitchell will serve as Mayor Pro Tem and will serve as presiding officer until a special election is held, the city said.

Police said their investigation remains open and active.

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