Kyle Snyder, a celebrated Olympic gold medalist and former wrestling standout at Ohio State University, was arrested Friday night in a prostitution sting operation conducted by Columbus police.
According to authorities, the 29-year-old was one of 16 individuals apprehended during an undercover operation on the North Side of Columbus. Officers posed as escorts online, and Snyder reportedly responded to one of the fake ads around 8:15 p.m. by calling and texting an undercover officer.
Police say Snyder agreed to meet at a nearby hotel, where he offered cash in exchange for oral sex. He was arrested at the scene for engaging in prostitution and later released. Snyder is scheduled to appear in court on May 19. Efforts to contact him for comment were unsuccessful.
Snyder is one of the most decorated American wrestlers of the past decade. He earned Olympic gold in freestyle wrestling at the 2016 Rio Games, a silver medal in Tokyo 2021, and placed fourth in the 2024 Paris Games. During his collegiate career, he captured three consecutive NCAA heavyweight titles for Ohio State between 2016 and 2018 and helped lead the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2015. In 2024, he was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
In a 2024 interview, Snyder expressed his intention to continue competing internationally and was training out of Penn State University.
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