(7-17-24) Toledo Catholic Diocese has agreed to a $1 million settlement for three sexual abuse victims of Michael Zacharias.

Zacharias served at St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Van Wert from July 2007 to April 2011.

The payout will go to victims of Zacharias, who was convicted on five counts of sex trafficking by a federal jury in Ohio last May. His crimes were committed between 1999 and 2020 and involved three victims, two of whom were minors when Zacharias began abusing them.

The compensation amount was decided following recommendations from two judges were were appointed as independent administrators of the process.

Zacharias was sentenced to life in prison in November. He had faced a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

The convicted sex offender was subsequently laicized by Pope Francis in March of this year after a request from the Toledo Diocese. The dismissal from the clerical state removed the priest’s ability to licitly execute the functions of the priesthood, except in the extreme situation of encountering someone who is in immediate danger of death.