‘American Ninja Warrior’ Champion Accused of Having Sex With Teen Girl

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CAMDEN, N.J. – A Florida man was arrested today and charged with seeking sex with a minor and inducing her to send him sexual explicit images.

Andrew Drechsel, 31, of Saint Cloud, Florida, is charged by complaint with manufacture of child pornography, enticement of a minor to travel for illicit sexual conduct, travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, and use of interstate commerce to entice a minor. He made his initial appearance today in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, prior to his transfer to the District of New Jersey.

Drechsel sought to have sex with a minor girl and traveled to New Jersey with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with that minor. He also enticed and coerced a minor to travel to Connecticut to engage in illicit sexual conduct and engaged in online sexual communications with a minor and induced her to manufacture sexually explicit images of herself and send them to Drechsel.

NBC Philadelphia reported: Drechsel met the victim in 2014 after an “American Ninja Warrior” event, according to the criminal complaint. The two then began a sexual relationship in 2015 when Drechsel was 26 and the girl was 15, investigators said.

In June 2015, the girl visited Drechsel at his gym in Hamden, Connecticut, for her “15th birthday present,” according to the criminal complaint. After the two had sex, the girl told her mother about it the next day, investigators said.

When the girl’s mother confronted Drechsel, he didn’t deny having sex with her but claimed he didn’t know her age, according to the criminal complaint.

Drechsel then continued to have sex with the girl at various locations over a two-year period, including a restaurant parking lot in Marlton, New Jersey, as well as outside a gym in Hainesport, police said. The two also sent each other sexually explicit messages and Drechsel repeatedly told the girl to speak to him via Skype while she was naked, according to the criminal complaint.

The girl and her mother reported Drechsel to Cherry Hill police in 2019 and investigators executed a search warrant at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, in November. Police found Drechsel’s phone which contained several sexually explicit pictures of the teen dating back to when she was 14, according to the criminal complaint.


The count of use of interstate commerce to entice carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; the count of enticement to travel for illicit sexual conduct carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; the count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; and the count of manufacture of child pornography carries a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison. All of the counts also carry a maximum fine of $250,000 per count.

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