Patrick Wojahn: Ex-Maryland mayor who calls Pete Buttigieg his 'mentor' charged with child pornography
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PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MARYLAND: Former College Park mayor Patrick Wojahn and Pete Buttigieg had a longtime mentor-mentee relationship. Wojahn, 47 who has been charged with 56 counts of child pornography on Thursday, March 2, 2023, referred to Pete Buttigieg, the beleaguered Transportation Secretary in the Joe Biden administration, as his "friend" and "mentor," in a conversation with Washington Blade 2019. Wojahn and Buttigieg have been seen together in a number of high-profile settings, including an event at the White House during the Barack Obama administration.
“I actually met Mayor Pete Buttigieg shortly after I was elected mayor in 2015,” Wojahn, a gay man, told the Washington Blade, a publication that focuses on LGBTQI+ issues, back in 2019. Wojahn further explained how Buttigieg, a gay man himself, had been tasked to be his "buddy" during a meeting of mayors in Washington, DC. "I went to the US Conference of Mayors' Winter Meeting in DC in January [2015] and he was assigned to be my buddy," Wojahn said, according to DailyMail.
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The close relationship between Pete and Wojahn
The two developed a close relationship following their visit to DC and continued to talk on the phone. They attended an event at the White House together later. "I now serve in a leadership role as vice chair of city livability and bicycling in part due to his mentorship," Wojahn said of Buttigieg, adding that they would discuss the challenges of being openly gay mayors. "We talked about balancing competing interests," Wojahn told the Washington Blade at the time.
Just two mayors, grabbing a beer together. #MayorPete pic.twitter.com/yAke5bmavN
— Patrick Wojahn (@patrick_wojahn) July 11, 2019
In 2019, Wojahn shared a photo showing him holding hands with Buttigieg on his Twitter account. He captioned it, "Just two mayors, grabbing a beer together. #MayorPete." Throughout the years, other photos of the two have surfaced, including ones from his mentor's 2020 presidential campaign in which he is seen standing beside the former mayor of South Bend while sporting a "Pete 2020" button. According to Fox News, Wojahn visited the White House roughly six times since President Biden's inauguration and after Buttigieg was chosen to run the Department of Transportation, according to visitor logs and his social media profiles.
Wojahn resigned from his post
After being elected mayor of the DC neighborhood of College Park in 2015, Wojahn unexpectedly resigned after being detained by Prince George's County police on 40 charges of child pornography possession and 16 counts of disseminating child pornography. Local authorities were made aware of a social media account that was disseminating pornographic photographs by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Even though authorities said Wojahn tried to conceal his identity by using a VPN, a sting operation last week linked him to the social media account, leading to his arrest.
In a letter of resignation submitted on Thursday, Wojahn stated that he was leaving his position to "deal with" his mental health. In its own statement, the city expressed its gratitude to him "for his service" and made no mention of the claims in its first announcement. "The City of College Park thanks Mayor Wojahn for his many years of dedicated service," it said.
"We are shocked and disturbed by the news; what has come to light in this investigation is a total surprise to us," they said in a later statement, adding, "The City knows that this news is distressing and difficult for our community, and we encourage our residents to seek any help they feel necessary to work through this trying time."