An openly gay Maryland mayor who once described Pete Buttigieg as a mentor has been charged with distributing child porn.

47-year-old Patrick Wojahn resigned from his position as mayor of College Park in anticipation of his arrest Thursday. Wojahn faces 40 counts of possession of child exploitative material and 16 counts of distribution of child pornography.

Police in Prince George’s County were notified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in February that a social media account in the county was sharing child porn online.

The police identified the account as Wojahn's and determined the images were uploaded in January on the messaging app Kik. 

Democrat's sick scandal

They searched his home Tuesday, where they found "multiple cell phones, a storage device, a tablet and a computer."

Wojahn reportedly admitted to police that the Kik account was his and said he "has viewed and possessed files depicting child pornography.” He said he was stepping down to address his "mental health" in a resignation letter.

“I have cooperated fully, and will continue to cooperate, with law enforcement,” Wojahn wrote. “While this investigation does not involve any official city business of any kind, it is in the best interests of our community that I step aside and not serve as a distraction.”

Buttigieg ties

Police say Wojahn used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to keep his crimes hidden, but he left a trail for police to follow: the recovery e-mail for his Kik account was his official government e-mail.

Wojahn became the first openly gay mayor of College Park when he was elected in 2015. He has ties to prominent Democrats including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Fox News reports that Wojahn has described Buttigieg as a mentor.

"I actually met Mayor Pete Buttigieg shortly after I was elected mayor in 2015," he told the Washington Blade previously. "I went to the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting in D.C. in January, and he was assigned to be my buddy."

Visited White House

He posed with Buttigieg and his partner Chasten for a photo in June, which came with the caption, "Always great to see these guys at the White House!!"

The Transportation Department issued a statement on the "extremely disturbing" news surrounding Wojahn.

"The Secretary did not know the former Mayor well, but did meet him a number of times through participation in U.S. Conference of Mayors programming, conferences and political events," the spokesperson continued.

Wojahn has been a recurring visitor at the Biden White House, where he has appeared at various LGBT- and "Pride"-themed events. He faces up to 360 years in prison.