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Posted: 2024-06-28T21:01:43Z | Updated: 2024-06-28T21:01:43Z

A former American Ninja Warrior champion has been sentenced to over 10 years in federal prison on child sex crime charges, authorities announced Wednesday.

Andrew Drew Drechsel, 35, a resident of St. Cloud, Florida, pleaded guilty in June of last year 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. Attorneys Office for the District of New Jersey.

Drechsel, who appeared on American Ninja Warrior for years, won the reality competition shows million-dollar prize in Season 11, which aired on NBC in 2019. He also trained adults and teens 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 started an intimate relationship when she was 15 and he was 26, according to a criminal complaint.