Ex-priest sentenced to life

Former St. Michael Church pastor Michael J. Zacharias was sentenced to two life prison terms on Friday for two convictions of sex trafficking of minors. Zacharias, 56, was sentenced in U.S. District Court, in Toledo, by Judge Jack Zouhary. Zacharias also was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each of three convictions for sex trafficking involving adults. Judge Zouhary ordered that all of the terms be served concurrently. Zacharias was found guilty in May in a jury trial of two counts that he used force, fraud and coercion to get a minor to engage in paid sex acts, and three counts of using force, fraud and coercion to get an adult to engage in paid sex acts. A total of three victims were involved. Zacharias was pastor at St. Michael Church, in Findlay, from 2017 to 2020, when he was arrested and charged. Prior to that, he was a priest at churches in Fremont, Van Wert and Mansfield. Zacharias on Friday apologized to the judge. And yet, he didn't. "I stand before you with a clear conscience," the ex-priest said, adding he only had consensual sex with adults. He said that when he looks in the mirror he sees a man of character. Zacharias urged the judge to do the right thing and give him the minimum sentence of 15 years. "I ask you to do the right thing today," he said, then quoted Jesus. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy." Judge Zouhary cited Scripture, too. "The Lord laughs at the wicked," the judge said, citing Psalm 37:13. "Today we do not laugh," Judge Zouhary said. "We cry." He called Zacharias a "wolf in sheep's clothing, more a predator than a priest." Zacharias preyed upon his victims' addictions to opiates. But he first appeared to them "as a trusted friend … a wolf in sheep's clothing," U.S. attorneys said during the trial. All three victims first met Zacharias while they were students at St. Catherine's School, in Toledo, in the 1999-2000 school year. Zacharias was a seminary student then and was assigned to work at the school and church as part of his training to become a parish priest. Two of the boys were brothers, in sixth grade and kindergarten, and a third boy was in eighth grade. Zacharias won the trust and confidence of the boys and their families, according to trial testimony. He preyed upon the boys' varying vulnerabilities and needs for a friend and mentor. In time, each of the boys became addicted to opiates. Zacharias maintained contact with them after he finished his time at St. Catherine's. He testified that he did not cause the victims to become addicted. But after having convinced them that he was their friend and mentor, he exploited their drug addictions to comply with his desires for sex, U.S. attorneys argued during the trial. The three victims did not consent to the sex, they complied because they feared that otherwise they would suffer excruciating harm from drug withdrawal, the victims testified at trial. When he knew the victims were desperate for drugs, Zacharias paid them money for sex, sex-related acts and various forms of humiliation. "You had an opportunity to help these three young men," Judge Zouhary said Friday. "Instead, you did the opposite." Throughout the 20 years of repeated abuse and exploitation, Zacharias preached at Mass, and smiled at church-related gatherings. "How did you keep smiling?" Zouhary asked the ex-priest. "When you look in the mirror, do you really see a clear conscience? … A man of character?" the judge said. One of the victims testified at trial that he complied at times because he feared that if he did not Zacharias would go after his younger brother for sex. Zacharias told the three victims that if they told anyone about the activities they would be charged with prostitution and their reputations would suffer, U.S. attorneys said in court proceedings. The three victims were spiraled into ever-deeper humiliations, debasement and isolation. Two victims who are brothers never discussed their circumstances with each other. Nor did they know about the third victim, and he was unaware of them. One of the victims, in a statement to the judge on Friday, said Zacharias' crimes made him "terrified to go to sleep because of nightmares." The mother of two of the victims, who had trusted Zacharias with her boys, told the judge that it is still "haunting and gut wrenching" for her. "A child can't recognize a predator," said one of her sons, in a written statement which was read aloud in court by an attorney. "The worst of it all is he did it with a smile on his face and a collar around his neck." Zacharias was ordained as a priest in 2002 in Indiana, and served at churches in Mansfield, Van Wert, Fremont and Findlay before being arrested and charged by FBI agents in Findlay in 2020.