Third man testifies against Zacharias

TOLEDO – A third man testified emotionally Monday in federal court that a priest, who served at several northwest Ohio churches over 18 years, paid to perform oral sex on him numerous times. Michael Zacharias, 56, former pastor at St. Michael's, in Findlay, is on trial on two charges that he used force, fraud and coercion to get a minor to engage in paid sex acts; and three charges that he used force, fraud and coercion to get an adult to engage in paid sex acts. He allegedly preyed upon males who needed money for drug addictions. Presiding over the trial in U.S. District Court, in Toledo, is Judge Jack Zouhary. Zacharias' predatory moves began when the witness, now 37, was in eighth grade in a hallway at St. Catherine's Catholic school in Toledo, the witness testified. Zacharias was at the school for the 1999-2000 school year as a seminarian training to become a priest. "He groped me," the man testified. "He felt my penis" (over the boy's pants). In a separate incident at a house on the church grounds, Zacharias told the eighth-grader he wanted to see his penis, the witness testified. The boy rejected Zacharias, but Zacharias put his hand on the boy's shorts as if it was a game, the witness testified. He called Zacharias a name and then left, he testified. It was a Friday and that evening at a gathering of friends the witness said he got drunk – very drunk – for the first time in his life, he testified. The witness testified that another day he went to tell the church pastor – Fr. Michael Hohenbrink, who later pastored at St. Michael's in Findlay. He testified that he was nervous and stumbling over his words when he approached Hohenbrink. "I was trying to tell him" about the first incident in the school hallway, the man testified. He testified that the pastor asked him no questions. U.S. Trial Attorney Lindsey Roberson asked the witness what Hohenbrink said. "He essentially told me it was just in my head," the witness testified. Roberson asked the witness why he told the pastor only about the first incident and not the second as well. He did not think anybody would believe him, the witness testified. He thought he was a bad kid because he had a lot of demerits in school and no one would believe him, he testified. After that came a third, still worse, episode in the boy's eighth-grade year: Zacharias pulled down the boy's shorts and put his mouth on the boy's penis, he testified. Other than the one time he told Hohenbrink, the witness never spoke of those or any of the other incidents over the years until 2020, the witness testified. It was his sister who told the FBI to question her older brother in 2020, the sister testified Monday. Her brother had been in and out of rehab for drug addiction for years. When the sister saw a news story about Zacharias' arrest in 2020, she could feel her heart sink, she testified. "I felt like I was hit by a ton of bricks," she testified. In the news story, the FBI listed a phone number for people to call if they had been solicited or groomed by Zacharias. The sister called the FBI to report that she thought her brother had been a victim, she testified.Back in the 1999-2000 school year when they were all kids, the brother teased his younger sister that she was a kiss up, always doing the right thing, she testified. When she and their other siblings noticed the attention Zacharias gave to him as an eighth-grader, they teased their brother about it, she testified. On that day in August 2020, she saw her brother, his addiction troubles and Zacharias in a new light, she testified. "I remembered the teasing that we did … all the memories came through the lens of that (news) article," she testified. Suddenly everything that happened to her brother – the addiction, numerous rehab stays and relapses – made sense to her, she testified. She realized that Zacharias was not a nice, helpful guy, she testified. Her brother testified that he developed an addiction to opiates after getting a prescription for a fractured back in a car accident in 2008. After that, Zacharias renewed their acquaintance, he testified. At some point, Zacharias offered money for photos of the witness's anatomy and they negotiated a price, the man testified. What followed for years were photos and videos taken of body parts and sex acts for money, he testified, his voice cracking and face wrinkled in tears. There were numerous graphic text messages, emails and incidents of oral sex at the St. Joseph's Church rectory in Fremont in the 2011-2017 period, the witness testified. On cross-examination by defense attorney Mark Geudtner, the man testified that the sex acts were consensual. But on redirect by Roberson, he testified that he was only acting out Zacharias' fantasies to get money for drugs and he never engaged in sex with Zacharias when he was sober. At some point, he got a new phone and withheld the phone number from Zacharias, wanting to get away from him, he testified. An additional witness testified to how opiates reduce an addict's ability to make good choices and avoid bad ones. The drugs hijack the brain's reward center which motivates a person's actions and reinforces behaviors, testified Travis Worst, director of the Ohio Attorney General's Center for the Future of Forensic Science at Bowling Green State University.