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Post by Ninja Warrior Ryan on Aug 8, 2020 15:55:06 GMT -5
Sorry if i'm rambling a little but man. This is so shocking and to be honest I'm a bit in denial. Reading the words "...Drew Drechsel's arrest" on ANW Nation for the first time was so jarring, to hear those words juxtaposed against one another, it was hard to read and I couldn't believe my eyes. It feels like I'm going insane - I come back and I expect this to be a dream, but unfortunately it isn't. And to think, this wasn't some random ninja. This was undoubtedly the best ninja in half of the god damn show's history. The best. We can play technicalities, but I bet if you were gonna die unless you picked someone, and that someone had to clear an impossible course for you to live, at least half of you (not knowing about this incident) would pick Drew Drechsel. That name grates on my f***ing ears now. To think that he went out and did that, and HAD been doing that since the VERY DAY I WATCHED NINJA WARRIOR... Five years man. Five years. It's horrible. I might be playing the devil's advocate here.. but as manipulative and exploitative as his actions were, Drew isn't a rapist. God, that word is hard to type. It is more-or-less a technicality, as I can imagine Victim 1 was pretty much pressured into doing it, so it wouldn't have mattered anyways... Further I don't think Drew is inherently 100% bad. I think although the initiation was horrible and he shouldn't have started it (both a stupid and immoral move) maybe I see it this way because I'm still a teenager myself, the continuation of it wasn't as much so (as weird as it sounds, I think their situation would have been more-or-less normalised and hopefully less horrible for Victim 1). If I'm fully wrong, I'm sorry and I don't mean to presume. I don't think Drew is all bad. His student, Jay, wrote something about the Drew he knew being a mask. I'm conflicted. My opinion holds no weight as I never knew Drew Drechsel, nor will I likely ever know him, but I can't imagine all he is is evil and power-hunger. One of the memories I have of him was him giving up his spot to Jessie on Stage Two in 2016. This is a guy who undoubtedly loves what he does... so to see him do that, that means something. I dunno, but perhaps the good can coexist alongside the bad. I've seen that in people, and I'm wrestling with it myself. I think the bigger shock for me is the fact he did something so blatantly illegal that he could be going to jail for f***ing life. As much as he deserves punishment (I'm past thinking he could be not guilty)... I don't think he deserves that. He deserves time, but not life. I'm a bit torn to be honest. I keep hearing Matt and Akbar yell his name being yelled in my ears, I keep remembering all the falls he had that he came out of smiling, and damn man I am in denial. One last thing if you read this far is something, a little story, that's kinda ironic. I'm a bit retarded to be honest, and I didn't know 'Drew' was short for 'Andrew', which feels a lot weirder on him. Reading that report for the first time, and seeing that... it's as though by knowing his 'real name' and all it means he's, well, exactly that. A different person. Hope the victim gets peace. Hope April and her son are at peace - man not only is her husband likely a criminal (and this is kinda obvious but also overlooked) but he also cheated on her for about five years if that's the case. While she was carrying his son too pretty sure. Damn. That makes it a whole lot worse.
Yeah. That's about five years of history that is more or less unreal at this point. Sorry if I rambled. Hope you understand what I feel too. Sadly, Drew is far from an amazing and kind person. TV persona is very different from someones actual persona. |
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Post by wolf4537 on Aug 8, 2020 22:53:24 GMT -5
All I can say about this....is WTF!!!!!!!!!! (I would post more but I'm just now taking this all in....I'm absolutely shocked and appalled right now.)
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kate🤍
Kuramochi Minoru
Posts: 21
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Post by kate🤍 on Aug 9, 2020 0:40:41 GMT -5
I just wanted to get my shtick out there.
I think it is very important that we pay attention to the victim. All of the spotlight is on Drew and the shockwaves and whatever. But this girl has been through absolute hell, she deserves the world for being able to stand up and speak when so many other women struggle to do so.
She deserves so much credit for her bravery. Just because Drew has his fame seems to me to be deterring the attention away from the victim, who really should be the center of attention. Because without this girl, who knows.. Drew could be involved with more and it just took her to speak up about it to actually get a change. So, I just want to thank her for being able to speak up.
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Post by BobbyG11 on Aug 9, 2020 1:06:12 GMT -5
Trying to compare this case and charges to Jared from Subway is headache inducing.
On the surface, Jared’s seems more sick and perverse. But he didn’t entice anyone to come to him and apparently didn’t have vids/pics of his victims, just other child porn.
Jared got 15 years. Drew is facing 2 extra charges that Jared didn’t have. If Drew’s attorneys can’t get a significant Plea Agreement on the Enticing and Manufacturing charges, he will be looking at quite a long time. And the evidence is telling.
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Post by TCM on Aug 9, 2020 9:54:28 GMT -5
I just wanted to get my shtick out there. I think it is very important that we pay attention to the victim. All of the spotlight is on Drew and the shockwaves and whatever. But this girl has been through absolute hell, she deserves the world for being able to stand up and speak when so many other women struggle to do so. She deserves so much credit for her bravery. Just because Drew has his fame seems to me to be deterring the attention away from the victim, who really should be the center of attention. Because without this girl, who knows.. Drew could be involved with more and it just took her to speak up about it to actually get a change. So, I just want to thank her for being able to speak up. And given how commonly this ends for survivors, even the ones that speak up like she did, all the focus should be making sure she's OK. |
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Post by Shuberb674 on Aug 9, 2020 22:53:42 GMT -5
The labeling of her age and location in a folder with presumably more folders (but that's separate and I'm sure that's why he hasn't been extradited yet) is another crime. Man this is the worst part, people can make excuses about "oh maybe he just fell in love with her before learning her age, and then just couldn't stop seeing her even after he learned" blah blah blah or "but wikipedia says its only pedophilia if the victim is under age 13"... This labelling of the folder with her age means that he is identifying her specifically by that fact, implying thats the part of her he's interested in... and who's to say his other folders/victims aren't younger. I would't be surprised if there were more victims or evidence of sharing this data with others. That would explain why the police are coming down so hard on him. If the cops tried going after every person who once had sex with an underage teen it would be like arresting everybody who ever smoked weed (of course the vast majority would be 16-17 and I am not condoning nor normalizing this behaviour). Also if I recall correctly Drew was a mentor on ANW junior and was in charge of the age 9-10 category.... disgusting. Needless to say I hope all victims can receive the proper support to recover from this. And if this really was part of a spider web of predators online/at the Ninja Gyms then I pray this coming to light will lead to their arrest also. The facility that had the bed in the warped wall (the thing that Geoff brought up in the Instagram) that everyone knew existed but thought it was for consensual activities is in a facility catering to children. I'm sure Connecticut law will have issues with the existence of that once they find out. Christ, okay this is just depraved. |
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Post by tyler on Aug 9, 2020 23:12:51 GMT -5
This labelling of the folder with her age means that he is identifying her specifically by that fact, implying thats the part of her he's interested in... and who's to say his other folders/victims aren't younger. It's possible that I'm completely wrong here. But I thought that it was her contact and not a folder that was "name, 16, Cherry Hill". The labeling of her name like that in a contact is not that crazy for a person who coaches, tutors etc. of people of various ages in various locations. By labeling it that way, it can be a lot easier answering questions via text messages about things like what hours things will happen. This is because people are often grouped together based on age or location. What Drew did with that information was absolutely repulsive. I'm just saying don't automatically vilify people for having contacts listed that way. Obviously, if it was a folder instead of contact I'm completely wrong and it makes it worse. But I think it was how he had her as a contact and that was used for evidence to show Drew knew she was under 18. |
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Post by hydra48 on Aug 9, 2020 23:38:15 GMT -5
This labelling of the folder with her age means that he is identifying her specifically by that fact, implying thats the part of her he's interested in... and who's to say his other folders/victims aren't younger. It's possible that I'm completely wrong here. But I thought that it was her contact and not a folder that was "name, 16, Cherry Hill". The labeling of her name like that in a contact is not that crazy for a person who coaches, tutors etc. of people of various ages in various locations. By labeling it that way, it can be a lot easier answering questions via text messages about things like what hours things will happen. This is because people are often grouped together based on age or location. What Drew did with that information was absolutely repulsive. I'm just saying don't automatically vilify people for having contacts listed that way. Obviously, if it was a folder instead of contact I'm completely wrong and it makes it worse. But I think it was how he had her as a contact and that was used for evidence to show Drew knew she was under 18. I heard that it was for a contact too. |
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Post by ChiBiJKT48 on Aug 9, 2020 23:55:04 GMT -5
Great to see majority of people here support the victim instead of Drechsel. We should encourage more victims coming out, if any. Drechsel might had lot of friends, but that not gonna help him in Trial. For any who still support Drechsel after knowing the case, shame of you.
Also, his wife is six years younger than him? Crap, that really explain it. Not to mention she was actually cheated by Drechsel too, given the case point out on that. Truly a shame, Drechsel. People look up at you, and this is what you gave in return. Shame.
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Post by marsllama on Aug 10, 2020 3:41:38 GMT -5
So, it's been a long time since I posted on here.
Just wanted to reiterate what others have said. There is a very good reason why a fifteen-year-old is not legally considered able to consent.
We all know that at that age most people aren't fully matured, emotionally, mentally, physically... making them more likely to make bad decisions for what they feel are good reasons. We ALL know this, and so did Drechsel.
Let's say for arguments sake she really did look a lot older when they met. The court states that the very next day the woman's mother confronted him and told him her real age anyway, so that was his opportunity to cut all contact, and he chose not to. Any man in his 20's who finds out a girl is 15 and yet continues the relationship is disgusting and should go to jail for a long time.
Hopefully she gets the support she needs.
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,632 
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2020 4:52:44 GMT -5
The labeling of her age and location in a folder with presumably more folders (but that's separate and I'm sure that's why he hasn't been extradited yet) is another crime. Man this is the worst part, people can make excuses about "oh maybe he just fell in love with her before learning her age, and then just couldn't stop seeing her even after he learned" blah blah blah or "but wikipedia says its only pedophilia if the victim is under age 13"... This labelling of the folder with her age means that he is identifying her specifically by that fact, implying thats the part of her he's interested in... and who's to say his other folders/victims aren't younger. I would't be surprised if there were more victims or evidence of sharing this data with others. That would explain why the police are coming down so hard on him. If the cops tried going after every person who once had sex with an underage teen it would be like arresting everybody who ever smoked weed (of course the vast majority would be 16-17 and I am not condoning nor normalizing this behaviour). Also if I recall correctly Drew was a mentor on ANW junior and was in charge of the age 9-10 category.... disgusting. Needless to say I hope all victims can receive the proper support to recover from this. And if this really was part of a spider web of predators online/at the Ninja Gyms then I pray this coming to light will lead to their arrest also. The facility that had the bed in the warped wall (the thing that Geoff brought up in the Instagram) that everyone knew existed but thought it was for consensual activities is in a facility catering to children. I'm sure Connecticut law will have issues with the existence of that once they find out. Christ, okay this is just depraved. Yeah the labeling is what is driving me insane. It's a server with folders and this case is ONE folder. Who knows what other ages there are. Also, was this server shared? Monetized? So many questions. And yes the bed hidden in the warped wall revelation sent chills up my spine. I had no idea. With such an elaborate set up.. no way it wasn't used before. Sure the rationalization of it was between consensual adults but in the wake of this you start to question literally everything now and you start seeing the pattern arise. It's scary when you start to imagine the possibilities and opportunities affording him with the status he had. If someone this big could do it and get away with it for 5 years.. the possibility could be there for other potential abuses. It's not just Ninja gyms though and I want to be clear about that. This is every parent's nightmare. This labelling of the folder with her age means that he is identifying her specifically by that fact, implying thats the part of her he's interested in... and who's to say his other folders/victims aren't younger. It's possible that I'm completely wrong here. But I thought that it was her contact and not a folder that was "name, 16, Cherry Hill". The labeling of her name like that in a contact is not that crazy for a person who coaches, tutors etc. of people of various ages in various locations. By labeling it that way, it can be a lot easier answering questions via text messages about things like what hours things will happen. This is because people are often grouped together based on age or location. What Drew did with that information was absolutely repulsive. I'm just saying don't automatically vilify people for having contacts listed that way. Obviously, if it was a folder instead of contact I'm completely wrong and it makes it worse. But I think it was how he had her as a contact and that was used for evidence to show Drew knew she was under 18. The contact list was in the vault-hide ap and not his phone.. meaning he categorized the photos and videos. So it's not just the contact list on his phone to contact his students.. this was a sorting list of folders that housed the pornography he was hiding. Again, how many more folders of pornography were there? They mentioned "list"... So, it's been a long time since I posted on here. Just wanted to reiterate what others have said. There is a very good reason why a fifteen-year-old is not legally considered able to consent. We all know that at that age most people aren't fully matured, emotionally, mentally, physically... making them more likely to make bad decisions for what they feel are good reasons. We ALL know this, and so did Drechsel. Let's say for arguments sake she really did look a lot older when they met. The court states that the very next day the woman's mother confronted him and told him her real age anyway, so that was his opportunity to cut all contact, and he chose not to. Any man in his 20's who finds out a girl is 15 and yet continues the relationship is disgusting and should go to jail for a long time. Hopefully she gets the support she needs. Yeah. The worst part for me is that he lured her to Connecticut to "celebrate her 15th birthday". He knew before and presumably that's in the text messages before the conversation with the mother after the poor girl couldn't stop bleeding after their encounter. Edited to add: First photo was when she was 14. He asked her for some photos. According to people on Reddit he's asked underaged girls for photos as well. As for wife, to my knowledge April never married Drew. She's always listed as the long-time girlfriend. |
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Post by LusitaniaAngel313 on Aug 10, 2020 5:06:32 GMT -5
I won't lie, I talked to others about this and I'm with them with the fact the girl really did the right thing and speaking out. She had the courage to speak out for what was right and now she can attempt to rest easy. It's hard to believe as we all know but I guess Drew was just always like this in secret and he deserves what's about to come at him.
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Post by zoran on Aug 10, 2020 6:00:18 GMT -5
So, it's been a long time since I posted on here. Just wanted to reiterate what others have said. There is a very good reason why a fifteen-year-old is not legally considered able to consent. We all know that at that age most people aren't fully matured, emotionally, mentally, physically... making them more likely to make bad decisions for what they feel are good reasons. We ALL know this, and so did Drechsel. Let's say for arguments sake she really did look a lot older when they met. The court states that the very next day the woman's mother confronted him and told him her real age anyway, so that was his opportunity to cut all contact, and he chose not to. Any man in his 20's who finds out a girl is 15 and yet continues the relationship is disgusting and should go to jail for a long time. Hopefully she gets the support she needs. The issue with the mother seeing him claim is that there is nothing to prove that it happened. Just the mothers word, Drew's lawyer could easily spin it that way. |
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Post by marsllama on Aug 10, 2020 6:53:47 GMT -5
Technically yes but there's loads more concrete evidence that he definitely knew her age from her 15th birthday at the very earliest. |
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Post by ChiBiJKT48 on Aug 10, 2020 8:09:12 GMT -5
As for wife, to my knowledge April never married Drew. She's always listed as the long-time girlfriend. It gets interesting, isn't it? This is a verbal statement of "No, April, I don't want to marry you because I enjoy being close to other underage girls. I only didn't dump you because I accidentally make you pregnant and I need to be seen responsible for it." |
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arsenette
Administrator
Rambling Rican
Posts: 16,632
Staff Member
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Post by arsenette on Aug 10, 2020 8:15:13 GMT -5
Technically yes but there's loads more concrete evidence that he definitely knew her age from her 15th birthday at the very earliest. Yes the concrete evidence of the first Connecticut visit. All of it is immortalized via text (which is why Drew wanted her to delete their texts and switch to Vault hide to hide that conversation as evidenced by the notations by the Feds in their complaint). There are several text confirming that the trip was to receive her 15th birthday present and it establishes that Drew knew exactly how old she was regardless of testimony from her mother's perspective. If anything is affirmation but not necessary to establish that Drew knew exactly what he was doing. As for wife, to my knowledge April never married Drew. She's always listed as the long-time girlfriend. It gets interesting, isn't it? This is a verbal statement of "No, April, I don't want to marry you because I enjoy being close to other underage girls. I only didn't dump you because I accidentally make you pregnant and I need to be seen responsible for it." While April is directly mentioned in the complaint, it's best to not speculate or even bring her up in this case other than to feel sorry that she had to go through this. Any further though I do believe is best to not speculate. This stuff is hurtful as hell and unfortunately public. Maybe we can just take April out of the conversation. Okay?  |
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Post by ChiBiJKT48 on Aug 10, 2020 8:22:44 GMT -5
While April is directly mentioned in the complaint, it's best to not speculate or even bring her up in this case other than to feel sorry that she had to go through this. Any further though I do believe is best to not speculate. This stuff is hurtful as hell and unfortunately public. Maybe we can just take April out of the conversation. Okay? Yeah, I guess so. I can only feel sorry for her and their new-born child. |
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Post by marsllama on Aug 10, 2020 9:12:25 GMT -5
Uneasy with the way this is being tackled by some ninjas.
To me the first and foremost priority should be this young woman who may have had her life ruined by predatory behaviour.
Second priority should be taking every possible step to ensure that this never happens again in a gym.
But instead I'm seeing a lot of people jump to step 3, the "this community is better than him and we will recover" part. It shouldn't be about how it will impact the community in my opinion.
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zocom7
Yamamoto Hiroshige
30%
Posts: 173
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Post by zocom7 on Aug 10, 2020 12:36:39 GMT -5
I was absolutely shocked when I read this. I guess he is gone forever from ANW.
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Post by LusitaniaAngel313 on Aug 10, 2020 14:33:21 GMT -5
I was absolutely shocked when I read this. I guess he is gone forever from ANW. I’m pretty sure you won’t be seeing him at all anymore. SASUKE, NNL, you name it. No one will be inviting him anymore. |
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