Witnesses testify to Zacharias' grooming, betrayal

TOLEDO — A 34-year-old man testified in U.S. District Court Wednesday that when he was 17 years old, a priest performed oral sex on him and paid him $1,500 for it. Former St. Michael Catholic Church pastor Michael J. Zacharias, 56, is on trial in federal court in Toledo 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. Presiding over the trial is Judge Jack Zouhary.Zacharias, who was pastor at St. Michael's from 2017 to 2020, is alleged to have victimized minors, whom he first met while they were students at a Toledo Catholic school, where he was previously employed. One of the three alleged victims, as well as his mother, testified Wednesday about how Zacharias had befriended them and won their trust over a period of years. Zacharias first met them in the 1999-2000 school year when he was at St. Catherine's Catholic School, in Toledo, as part of his seminary formation for priesthood. The family was vulnerable. The mother had divorced the boy's father, who abused drugs and was abusive and negligent toward the boy and his brothers, the mother testified. She had to work long hours and two jobs to support them and pay for Catholic school tuition. Her sons were home alone a lot. So when Zacharias visited them at home or took one or two of the boys on walks, the mother appreciated the show of support and mentorship for her sons. She even opened up to him at times about her sons' difficulties with school and drugs, she testified. Two of her sons are listed as victims in the charges against Zacharias. Her eldest son testified Wednesday that he was in sixth grade when he met Zacharias and that the Zacharias made him feel cared for. "He was one of the only people to show love and compassion," the son testified. He soon opened up to Zacharias, talking to him about "anything and everything" – God, his abusive father, girls, his troubles at school, he testified. It seemed like Zacharias was one of very few bright spots in the boy's troubled life. When his mother's boyfriend moved into the home, he brought his son with him. The new "stepbrother," a year older and 50 pounds heavier, held him down and homosexually abused him, the 34-year-old man testified. He was too embarrassed about it to tell anyone, he testified. At the end of his 6th grade year, he had to be hospitalized with meningitis. His mother visited him in the hospital, but his father did not. Zacharias visited him and gave the boy a rosary he said had been blessed by the pope, he said. They played video games together, with Zacharias next to him on the hospital bed, he testified. "It felt really good," he said. Even after Zacharias had finished his tenure at St. Catherine's, he maintained contact with the family. When the boy had to do an act of service as preparation for his confirmation in eighth grade, his service act of choice was to cook dinner for Zacharias. "He was one of only a few people who cared about me," he testified. Two years later, as a sophomore, the boy injured his back and arm in a fall from a bike. He was given Percocet to relieve the pain, he testified. His mother, a registered nurse, testified that after that she saw signs of drug abuse in her son - he became withdrawn, agitated, neglected hygiene, lost weight and sometimes nodded off in conversation even while standing. When the boy, at 15 years old, had to go to juvenile detention, Zacharias stood out again. The boy was visited by his mother, but when Zacharias visited, it was for much longer – hours, she testified she later learned. Zacharias, then an ordained priest, used his status to get the boy out of his cell for a time, the son testified. When the boy was out of juvenile detention, he began making secret trips to Mansfield, where Zacharias was a church priest. Not 16 years old yet, he sometimes used his mother's vehicle without her knowing it; other times, older girlfriends took him, he testified. Zacharias always gave the boy money when he visited him at the church rectory in Mansfield, the witness testified. The boy was consuming alcohol, opioids, cocaine and marijuana at this point in his life. He talked to Zacharias about his father, girls and other things. Zacharias asked him about him having sex with girls, he testified. The boy viewed it as a kind of confession when he told Zacharias these things. Then things changed. Zacharias began asking more prying questions about the boy's sex with girls, he testified. The priest talked in graphic detail about what he told couples about sex in his marriage counseling of them, he testified. The boy's girlfriend knew about his visits to Zacharias, their time together and the money Zacharias gave him, he said. One time, when the boy was talking on the phone with Zacharias, the girlfriend said, "Why does he call all the time? Is he trying to get in your pants?" he testified. The boy thought her suggestion was absurd, but Zacharias overheard the comment and told the boy that his girlfriend was right, he testified. In the boy's subsequent visits to the Mansfield church rectory, Zacharias – in joke or pun - kept returning to the subject of the two of them having sex, he testified. Eventually, "I gave in," the man testified. He let Zacharias touch the outside of his pants in exchange for money, then Zacharias masturbated in front of him for more money, he said. He testified that he pulled down his pants and showed Zacharias his buttocks. What was he thinking at the time? asked U.S. Trial Attorney Lindsey Roberson on direct examination. "I was just trying to get money to get drugs," he said. Then Zacharias began telling the boy he wanted to perform oral sex, he testified. He testified that he declined at first, then Zacharias increased his offer. First he offered the boy $300 for a minute or two, the man testified. When the boy resisted, Zacharias increased it to $500 for 30 seconds, then $700 for 20 seconds, he testified. The man testified that he eventually gave in for $1,500. Asked how many times Zacharias performed oral sex on him in the Mansfield rectory, he testified that it occurred perhaps eight times. In mid-2006, about a year before Zacharias transferred from Mansfield to a Van Wert church, the boy turned 18 years old. Under questioning by Roberson, the witness testified about other significant life events that occurred before he turned 18 and which coincided with at least some of the oral sex occurrences. He testified to more incidents occurring in Van Wert and other places. In addition, his relationship with Zacharias was never the same after the first sex in Mansfield, he testified. "Once I gave in, my friend started becoming annoying," the witness testified. Zacharias was less available, and over time when he was available, sex became the more dominant factor, he testified. Zacharias told him that if he ever told anyone, the church and people of the parish would suffer, the witness testified. Zacharias also told the witness he could be charged for prostitution, he testified. Some of his text messages to the witness were cruel, intimating once that he had had sex with the witness's younger brother, he testified. Then in 2015, Zacharias wanted to make action and confession videos, claiming it would give the witness more power over Zacharias, he testified. He did not want to, but eventually gave in, the witness testified. In a confession video in 2015, Zacharias is depicted performing oral sex on the witness. Zacharias also talks in the video about grooming the witness as a boy and speaks in graphic detail about his lust. The trial continues today with more witness testimony.