Former coach who posed as a young girl to obtain nude photos was sentenced to 23 years in prison

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former high school assistant volleyball coach Caught with hundreds of child pornography images and videos He was sentenced to 23 years in federal court on Thursday.

Clay Thomas Wolfe, 28, of Junction City, Ohio, pleaded guilty in April to sexually exploiting minors and possessing child pornography. He was arrested in June 2023 while working at New Lexington High School in Perry County, southeast of Columbus.

According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, Wolfe has been using the social media app Snapchat to pose as a 15-year-old girl named Ally since 2018. Videos and images showing underage male victims, some as young as 10 years old.

Prosecutors say Wolfe solicited child pornography from more than 300 victims. Nearly 100 of the victims come from multiple states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

Authorities began investigating Wolfe in April 2022 after a sixth-grader in Pennsylvania began sharing a nude photo of a classmate she received from “Ally,” the news release states. Authorities said Wolfe would send photos of a young woman’s bare breasts and genitals to persuade victims to send him nude and sexually explicit images and videos.

When he obtained the images, he used them to blackmail his victims, threatening to send them to family and friends if they did not cooperate, prosecutors said.

In total, Wolfe received approximately 850 images and 570 videos depicting child pornography. Wolfe was arrested and federally charged in June 2023.