‘NCAA’s First Openly Gay College Wrestler’ Sentenced for Heinous Crimes Involving Images of Pre-Pubescent Children

Americans face a devastating mental-health epidemic. And while many who suffer do not become sexual predators, those who do cannot seem to leave children alone.

Alec Donovan, a 2015 state wrestling champion at Brick Memorial High School in Ocean County, New Jersey, who later became the “NCAA’s first openly gay college wrestler,” per WPVI-TV, received a federal prison sentence of seven years and three months after pleading guilty to distribution of child pornography last June, per the Daily Voice.

Donovan, 26, had coached at the Shore Thing Wrestling Club in Lakewood, New Jersey. According to its website, Shore Thing has offered classes for elementary-, middle-, and high-school-aged wrestlers.

After seeking out and befriending young males online, Donovan “sent the victims images and videos of child sexual abuse.” He also sent nude photos of himself and requested nude photos of the victims in return.

Trending:

Watch: LSU Skips National Anthem, Then Gets Knocked Out of March Madness Tournament by Iowa

According to the Asbury Park Press — a local news outlet focused on Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey — FBI Special Agent Brian Salamone described the child sexual abuse victims in the images and videos as “prepubescent and teenage boys,” some of whom looked to be as young as 8 years old.

Donovan’s predatory behavior and exchanges of child pornography occurred between Jan. 17, 2021, and March 20, 2021.

U.S. District Court Judge Zahid N. Quraishi handed down the sentence on Thursday. It included an additional 30 years of supervised release.

Was Donovan’s sentence too light?

In 2015, the LGBT-focused Outsports identified Donovan as the first “publicly out gay NCAA wrestler.”

By then, he had made college recruiting trips, for he had enjoyed great success on the wrestling mat. In fact, as a senior, he finished 39-1, won the state championship in the 145-pound division, and ranked in the top 25 nationally for his weight class.

He also had suffered serious depression and harbored suicidal thoughts as a freshman in high school. But he credited a female friend named Haley for persuading him to tear up a suicide note.

“I was so happy she made me do that. Because now I don’t think about it. I’m moving forward,” he said at the time.

As he looked toward college, Donovan fancied himself a kind of LGBT mentor.

Related:

Mom Faces 20-Year Sentence After Running Over 7-Year-Old Son While Teaching Him Tough Lesson

“I’ve done a lot of great things ever since I was suicidal,” he said. “But yeah, helping other people makes me most proud.”

Donovan began his college wrestling career at California Polytechnic State University before transferring to Centenary University in Hackettstown, New Jersey, where he continued his winning ways, the Daily Voice reported. In fact, he became the school’s first All-American in Greco-Roman Wrestling.

Thus, the former state champion and college standout must have enjoyed substantial credibility at the Shore Thing Wrestling Club.

Of course, parents who sent their children to those wrestling classes could not have known about Donovan’s predatory behavior. And authorities described him as having targeted boys online rather than in person.

Still, we hear a great deal these days about affirming one’s gender and sexuality for the sake of mental health. In fact, we hear that demand for affirmation most loudly when applied to minors. And it has become a source of tyranny.

Donovan’s story, however, should remind us that mental health is a complicated subject. We still have much to learn.

Furthermore, affirming one’s sexual desires does not constitute an act of healing. In most cases, it causes only spiritual harm.

After all, psychological focus on “affirmation” prevents the afflicted individual from moving beyond the self. Thus, to the inward-looking person, other people appear as objects for sexual gratification.

And when those other people happen to be prepubescent children, something has gone terribly wrong.


A Note from Our Deputy Managing Editor:

 

I heard a chilling comment the other day: “We don’t even know if an election will be held in 2024.” 

 

That wasn’t said by a conspiracy theorist or a doomsday prophet. No, former U.S. national security advisor Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said that to the founder of The Western Journal, Floyd Brown.

 

Gen. Flynn’s warning means that the 2024 election is the most important election for every single living American. If we lose this one to the wealthy elites who hate us, hate God, and hate what America stands for, we can only assume that 248 years of American history and the values we hold dear to our hearts may soon vanish.

 

The end game is here, and as Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

 

All of this means that without you, it’s over. We have the platform, the journalists, and the experience to fight back hard, but Big Tech is strangling us through advertising blacklists, shadow bans, and algorithms. Did you know that we’ve been blacklisted by 90% of advertisers? Without direct support from you, our readers, we can’t continue the fight.

 

Can we count on your support? It may not seem like much, but a Western Journal Membership can make all the difference in the world because when you support us directly, you cut Big Tech out of the picture. They lose control. 

 

A monthly Western Journal Membership costs less than one coffee and breakfast sandwich each month, and it gets you access to ALL of our content — news, commentary, and premium articles. You’ll experience a radically reduced number of ads, and most importantly you will be vitally supporting the fight for America’s soul in 2024.

 

We are literally counting on you because without our members, The Western Journal would cease to exist. Will you join us in the fight? 

 

Sincerely,

Josh Manning

Deputy Managing Editor

The Western Journal

Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.

Michael Schwarz holds a Ph.D. in History and has taught at multiple colleges and universities. He has published one book and numerous essays on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and the Early U.S. Republic. He loves dogs, baseball, and freedom. After meandering spiritually through most of early adulthood, he has rediscovered his faith in midlife and is eager to continue learning about it from the great Christian thinkers.



Source link