Former Club Wrestling Coach From Brick Sentenced For Child Pornography

TRENTON, NJ — A former youth wrestling coach and referee from Brick Township has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison for distributing child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday.

Alec Donovan, 26, was sentenced on Thursday to 87 months — 7 years, 3 months — in prison by U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi in Trenton federal court, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Donovan had pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of child pornography before Quraishi in June 2023.

Donovan, who was a state champion wrestler at Brick Memorial and coached youth wrestling in a private club, was arrested in August 2021 following an investigation that found he had sent three videos showing child sexual abuse using a messaging application.

The video shares happened from January 2021 through March 2021, and he received two videos through the application. The videos showed sexual acts involving prepubescent children, authorities said at the time of his arrest.

He also used the web-based messaging application to solicit and engage in conversations with minors, including requesting nude photographs from the minors and sending nude photographs to them, authorities said.

In addition to the prison term, Quraishi sentenced Donovan to 30 years of supervised release.

Donovan had been a coach with Shore Thing Wrestling Club but had been barred from the club's premises in 2019, officials with Shore Thing said in 2021.

He never had a role with the Brick Township Schools' wrestling programs beyond his time as a student, district officials said. Donovan also never worked for the township Recreation Department's program, township officials said at the time of his arrest.

Donovan won the NJSIAA 145-pound championship in 2015 as part of the Brick Memorial High School wrestling team and went on to wrestle at Centenary University, where he qualified for the NCAA national championships as a junior.