Olympic gold medalist and Penn State Nittany Lion Wrestling Club member Kyle Snyder was arrested last week in a prostitution sting.
Snyder, 29, was one of 16 men charged during a Friday, May 9 undercover operation in Columbus, Ohio, according to multiple reports, including USA Today. Snyder was a three-time NCAA champion at Ohio State nearly a decade ago.
Snyder was arrested in a police operation that included posting ads for escort services on the internet, according to police. Snyder was arrested and then released from the scene Friday night after allegedly paying an undercover officer cash and asking for oral sex, police said.
He is scheduled to appear in court on May 19 — less than a month before he’s scheduled to represent the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club at Final X in Newark, New Jersey, a best-of-three competition to determine the USA World Team. Snyder qualified for that by winning the U.S. Open Championships two weeks ago at 97 kilograms.
Snyder has been training full-time in recent years with the Penn State wrestling team and coach Cael Sanderson as part of the NLWC. The program is led by Jake Varner.
Snyder won his three straight NCAA heavyweight championships for Ohio State from 2016 to 2018 and then a gold medal at the Rio Olympics before moving to State College to train professionally with the NLWC.
Snyder, the youngest Olympic and world champion wrestler in U.S. history, was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024.
He won his gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and followed up with silver at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Snyder finished fourth at last summer’s Paris Games.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State wrestling for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
