Olympic wrestler Kyle Snyder addressed his recent arrest in an Ohio prostitution sting for the first time on Wednesday.
The three-time world champion posted a message Wednesday morning on X thanking his supporters and indicating he doesn’t plan to let the arrest end his career, adding on a Bible quote to the end. He did not apologize or provide any defense for what transpired.
That Bible passage reads:
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
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Snyder, who is married with a son, was arrested in Columbus, where he wrestled for Ohio State from 2015-18. Authorities allege he responded to an online ad posted by Columbus police advertising escort services. The 29-year-old allegedly paid an undercover officer $160 in cash for a sex act in a hotel room and was immediately arrested at the scene on Friday.
Body camera footage of the arrest was released Tuesday and shows several officers storming into the room while Snyder still has his pants down.
The police are shown treating Snyder congenially as they escort him out of the hotel in handcuffs. At one point, Snyder responds to a question about his occupation by saying, “I’m a wrestler for Team USA.” One officer asks if he knows Sammy Sasso, an Ohio State wrestler who survived a shooting in 2023, and says she worked on his case.
Snyder was one of 16 men arrested in the sting and has a court date scheduled for Monday, per the Columbus Dispatch.
Kyle Snyder addressed his arrest on Wednesday. (Photo by PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP via Getty Images)
(PUNIT PARANJPE via Getty Images)
Snyder remains one of the most accomplished wrestlers in NCAA history, winning three straight heavyweight titles at 285 pounds and entering the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024. In his senior career at 97 kg, he won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, a silver medal at the 2020 Olympics, world titles in 2015, 2017 and 2022 and three more titles at the Pan American Games.
Following a fourth-place finish in Paris, Snyder told the Columbus Dispatch that he still plans to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
