Former Brick Wrestling Star, Coach and Ref, 26, Admits Distributing Child Porn

Alec Donovan (File Photo)

A former Brick Memorial High School wrestling champion who later went on to both referee and coach youth wrestling locally, admitted to sharing shockingly explicit images of young children over the internet before a federal judge this week.

Alec Donovan, 26, was never employed or worked as a volunteer in the Brick school district nor the township. Federal authorities did not name the locations where he coached or refereed wrestling matches, however a Facebook group in 2018 showed a photograph of “Coach Alec Donovan” with children at a Lakewood-based organization known as the “Shorething Wrestling Club.” The group was shut down to new posts weeks after allegations against Donovan first emerged. Shorebeat has preserved screenshots of the post, but has not published them since they contain young participants with the group. According to a report by Patch.com, he was dismissed from the group in 2019, before the admitted illicit activities occurred.

Donovan, of Brick, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.

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According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, from Jan. 2021 through March 2021, Donovan used an internet-based application to exchange “multiple images and videos of child sexual abuse, including depictions involving pre-pubescent children.”

Donovan 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.”

The charge of distribution of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 10, 2023.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica R. Ecker of the General Crimes Unit in Newark.