- Oct 17, 2011
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A Catholic priest in Ohio was convicted Friday on five counts of sex trafficking charges related to three victims, two of whom were minors when first sexually abused.
A trial went underway that presented evidence of Zacharias paying victims to engage in sex acts with him, using the victims’ fear of serious harm to compel their compliance. The evidence showed Zacharias first meeting his victims when they were young boys, and he was a Seminarian at St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish school in Toledo, Ohio.
Zacharias then began to groom the boys for commercial sex acts, using his position as a priest and teacher to ingratiate himself with the boys and their families as a trusted friend, mentor and spiritual counselor, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said. The grooming process involved a gradual increase in more sexualizing conversations.
The victims testified that they submitted to Zacharias’ commercial sex solicitations because they feared the psychological harm of losing Zacharias as a father figure and friend, losing their connection to the Church and God, and suffering the painful symptoms of opioid withdrawal.
A trial went underway that presented evidence of Zacharias paying victims to engage in sex acts with him, using the victims’ fear of serious harm to compel their compliance. The evidence showed Zacharias first meeting his victims when they were young boys, and he was a Seminarian at St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish school in Toledo, Ohio.
Zacharias then began to groom the boys for commercial sex acts, using his position as a priest and teacher to ingratiate himself with the boys and their families as a trusted friend, mentor and spiritual counselor, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice said. The grooming process involved a gradual increase in more sexualizing conversations.
The victims testified that they submitted to Zacharias’ commercial sex solicitations because they feared the psychological harm of losing Zacharias as a father figure and friend, losing their connection to the Church and God, and suffering the painful symptoms of opioid withdrawal.