Priest faces deadline in sex case

A former St. Michael the Archangel pastor who has been federally charged with sex trafficking of children and adults faces a plea deadline of 9 a.m. Wednesday. No plea deals by Michael J. Zacharias, 54, will be accepted after Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jack Zouhary. Zacharias faces two counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud and coercion; two counts of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion; and one count of sex trafficking of a minor. Zacharias was indicted in October 2020. He was taken into federal custody in August 2020 by the Northwest Ohio Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. Alleged offenses involve two former students of Catholic schools in Toledo over a period of years. Zacharias is alleged to have preyed upon boys, and later men, who needed money for their drug addictions. Five of 10 charges in the original indictment have since been dismissed. The accusations in the remaining charges include: • Sex trafficking of a minor: From about 1999 to 2006 Zacharias allegedly recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, or obtained a minor teen victim, knowing he would be caused to engage in a commercial sex act. Sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud or coercion: From about 2017 to 2020, when that same victim was an adult, Zacharias is alleged to have caused him to engage in a commercial sex act by force, fraud or coercion. • Two counts of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud or coercion. These two counts involve a different victim. One count is alleged to have occurred from about June 2009 to about August 2010 when the victim was about 15-16 years old. The other count is alleged to have occurred with the same victim from about June 2010 to about June 2011. • Sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud or coercion: This count is alleged to have occurred from about June 2015 to about January 2020, involving a third victim. Wilin: 419-472-8413