IOWA CITY, IOWA – APRIL 09: Spenser Mango’s shoes are seen on the mat in retirement after losing his Greco-Roman 59kg semifinal match to Jesse Thielke during day 1 of the Olympic Team Wrestling Trials at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on April 9, 2016 in Iowa City, Iowa. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
OAN’s Abril Elfi
10:05 AM – Saturday, March 30, 2024
A New Jersey youth wrestling coach has been sentenced to over seven years in prison for the distribution of child pornography.
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Federal prosecutors claim that a former state champion and youth wrestling coach from New Jersey who gained notoriety for being the first openly gay college wrestler in NCAA history has been sentenced to more than seven years in a case involving images of children.
The U.S. attorney’s office said that Alec Donovan, 26, of Brick, was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Thursday in federal court in Trenton for having previously entered a guilty plea to a charge relating to the distribution of images of child sexual abuse.
The prosecution claimed that in the first four months of 2021, Donovan sent and received two videos via a web-based messaging app that showed images of pre-pubescent children being sexually abused.
Additionally, they claimed he sent them nude photos that he had requested from minors using the app.
Prosecutors said that U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi sentenced Donovan to 30 years of supervised release in addition to the prison term.
A 2017 article in the NCAA-published Champion magazine detailed Donovan’s attempts to provide guidance to other gay wrestlers as well as his high school struggles with depression.
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