- Alec Donovan, 26, was sentenced in federal court to 87 months in prison
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A New Jersey youth wrestling coach and former state champion who made headlines for becoming the NCAA’s first openly gay college wrestler has been sentenced to more than seven years in a case involving images of children.
Alec Donovan, 26, of Brick, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Trenton to 87 months in prison for a previous guilty plea to a charge related to the distribution of child sexual abuse images, the office said Friday. of the US attorney.
Prosecutors alleged that during the first four months of 2021, Donovan used a web-based messaging application to send three videos and receive two videos containing images of child sexual abuse involving prepubescent children.
Some of the children in the pornography Donovan viewed and sent were as young as eight years old, according to the FBI.
Alec Donovan, 26, of Brick, was sentenced Thursday in federal court.
He became a state wrestling champion nine years ago, when he was a senior in high school.
They also alleged that he used the app to solicit nude photographs from minors and also send them naked images of himself.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi sentenced Donovan to 30 years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
A message seeking comment was sent to Donovan’s attorney Saturday.
Donovan, a youth wrestling coach and referee who was a New Jersey state high school wrestling champion, was the subject of a story on Outsports.com in 2015 after he publicly acknowledged that he was gay during a recruiting trip. academic.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi sentenced Donovan to 30 years of supervised release, prosecutors said.
Donovan (left) during one of his wrestling matches in his heyday. He has now been jailed on child pornography charges.
A 2017 story in Champion magazine published by the NCAA details Donovan’s struggles with depression in high school and his efforts to counsel other gay wrestlers.
He became a state wrestling champion nine years ago, when he was a senior in high school.
Donovan also qualified for the NCAA Division III national wrestling tournament at 165 pounds as a junior at Centenary University in 2019.