‘American Ninja Warrior’ champion Drew Drechsel has been sentenced

A former “American Ninja Warrior” champion has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison on charges of child sex crimes, authorities announced Wednesday.

Andrew “Drew” Drechsel, 35, a resident of St. Cloud, Florida, pleaded guilty last June to “one count of receiving child pornography and one count of knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing a minor to travel interstate to engage in sexual activity,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

Drechsel, who appeared on “American Ninja Warrior” for years, won the million-dollar prize in season 11 of the reality competition show, which aired on NBC in 2019. He also trained adults and teenagers at his gym in Hamden, Connecticut.

The investigation into Drechsel began in 2019 when a 19-year-old woman told police in Cherry Hill, New Jersey that she and Drechsel had begun an intimate relationship when she was 15 and he was 26, according to a criminal complaint.

The woman told investigators she met Drechsel in 2014 at an event attended by some “American Ninja Warrior” competitors and began communicating with him by phone.

Text messages between the two showed that Drechsel planned for the then-underage victim to travel to his gym in 2015. The victim said the trip was as a gift for her 15th birthday, and the text messages described plans for “sexual activities,” according to the complaint.

Upon her arrival, Drechsel had oral and vaginal sex with the girl at his gym, authorities said. The girl told her mother about the incident the next day, and the mother confronted Drechsel about it. The mother said Drechsel did not deny having sex with the girl, but claimed not to know her age.

Drechsel and the girl would continue to communicate and meet for sex until 2016.

Authorities recovered several electronic devices during a search of Drechsel’s home in Hamden in November 2019, uncovering explicit images and video footage of the victim.

The charges against Drechsel were filed in 2020 rack NBCUniversal said at the time that it was “shocked and disturbed” by the news.

“American Ninja Warrior is a family show that has inspired countless people, and we will not allow the actions of one contestant to tarnish the hard work and amazing stories of so many,” the statement said, adding that the series would destroy all ties break up with Drechsel.

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Online Sexual Assault Hotline or the Website of the National Resource Center for Sexual Violence.