‘Masquerading as a man of faith’: Catholic priest gets life in prison for grooming and sex trafficking young boys with opioid addictions over decades

A Catholic priest in Ohio will spend the rest of his life in prison for grooming and sex trafficking children and adults, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

In May, Rev. Michael Jude Zacharias, 56, was convicted on one count of sex trafficking of a minor, two counts of sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, or coercion, and two counts of sex trafficking of an adult by force, fraud, or coercion, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.

The condemned man met his victims — young children at the time — while working as a seminarian at St. Catherine’s Catholic Parish in Toledo, evidence at trial showed. There, he began gaining their trust and then turning it against them.

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