This news definitely surprised a lot of people. Kyle Snyder — the Olympic gold medalist and former Ohio State wrestling star — was arrested in a prostitution sting carried out by Columbus police. The arrest actually happened on May 9, but the police confirmed everything publicly this Monday.
Snyder, who’s 29 now and pretty well known for his wrestling career, was one of 16 people picked up in this undercover operation. Cops say it all went down at a hotel on the north side of the city.
How It Happened Inside That Hotel Room
Here’s the deal. The Columbus Division of Police ran this operation through their PACT unit — that’s Police and Community Together. They basically put up fake ads online that looked like offers for, you know, paid sexual activity.
Snyder, according to the police report, responded to one of those ads. He texted and called the undercover officers, agreed to meet up, and then showed up at a hotel. Once he got there, he handed over money and asked for a sexual act. That’s when the officers, who were actually part of the sting, arrested him on the spot.
He wasn’t taken to jail, though. They let him go from the scene, but he does have to show up in court on May 19. No public statement yet from him or his team.
Who Is Kyle Snyder and What’s He Been Up To?
If you follow wrestling even a little, you probably know who Snyder is. He’s kind of a big deal in that world. He won gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and then followed that up with a silver in Tokyo in 2021. On top of that, he’s been a three-time world champion and crushed it at Ohio State with three national titles.
And just recently — like, literally days before the arrest — he signed with a new wrestling league called the Real American Freestyle Wrestling League. It’s backed by none other than Hulk Hogan. Their first event’s supposed to happen in Cleveland on August 30, so yeah, the timing of all this is a bit of a mess.
What Cops Are Saying About the Sting
The police spokesperson, Caitlyn McIntosh, said these kinds of sting operations are part of an ongoing effort to fight sex trafficking and related crimes in the area. Apparently, they do this kind of thing pretty regularly — setting up these undercover ads, making arrests, and trying to raise awareness.
The goal, according to them, is to make the community safer. They didn’t single out Snyder — he just happened to be one of the people who got caught up in it this time.
