CINCINNATI — Former priest and convicted rapist Geoff Drew cannot live in his mother’s West Side home when he is released from prison in August, because his family has refused.
Ohio prison officials recently notified Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich of Drew’s request to live with his elderly mother. The address had not received final approval.
That prompted many neighbors to worry about the children who live and play in that quiet, dead-end street. An elementary school bus stop is right in front of his mother’s house.
“It really shook me because you’re putting him back into the same environment that he abused in,” neighbor Stacy Hudepohl said. “If you had somebody who robbed banks and had an addiction to robbing banks, you wouldn’t move them next to a PNC (bank). And that’s what I feel like we’re doing.”
Drew’s family members, including his mother, issued a statement to the I-Team this week addressing the concerns of friends, neighbors and West Side residents: “Geoff Drew will not be living at his mother’s residence upon his release from prison or any time after that.”
WATCH: What we know about Drew's release
Upon hearing that, Hudepohl was relieved for her neighborhood but still worried about the rest of the West Side community.
“Just because it’s not in my neighborhood doesn’t mean he’s not going to move to your neighborhood,” Hudepohl said. “It doesn’t solve the problem at all.”
Drew pleaded guilty in 2021 to repeatedly raping Paul Neyer when he was 9 and 10 years old. It happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s when Neyer was a student and altar boy at St. Jude in Bridgetown, where Drew was a music director.
Judge Leslie Ghiz sentenced him to seven years in prison, which was set by the plea deal, but added that she would have gladly sent him to prison for life.
It was one of the most highly publicized and controversial crimes in recent memory. It led to the resignation of an auxiliary bishop, the demand for a Vatican investigation by 1,500 local Catholics, and questions about how the Archdiocese of Cincinnati handled complaints that spanned three decades, across three different counties where Drew worked in churches and schools first as a music or band director, and later as a priest.
A WCPO investigation revealed that priests, parents and church and school officials knew about Drew’s inappropriate behavior with boys for decades, ranging from lingering hugs and shoulder massages to vacations and camping trips where alcohol was served and a boy blacked out from drinking too much.
Police identified a second alleged victim, but prosecutors said they could not file charges in that case because the statute of limitations had expired.
Many other men spoke to police as they were investigating Drew in 2019, describing inappropriate and grooming behavior that continued for decades.
“People need to be very, very worried about the safety of their children,” Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said in an April 8 interview. “I want to make sure that everybody knows that this guy has committed monstrous acts. I have no reason to think he has changed his ways.”
Now that Drew cannot live with his mother, Hudepohl worries that he will select another place to live on the West Side with easy access to recreation areas, community centers and pools where he can meet children.
“He does need some place to live … and like most West Siders, he’s going to head back to the West Side,” Hudepohl said.
Drew is currently classified at the highest sexual offender level. Once he is released from the Noble Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for men in Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio, he must register his new home address with the sheriff’s office every 90 days for the rest of his life.
Deputies would then distribute postcards containing his mug shot and criminal history to neighbors, nearby schools, and childcare centers.
“He may have served his time, but he has not earned the right to inflict further emotional stress on the very neighborhood community he used as his personal grooming grounds for young victims,” said Janet Thomas, who lives near Drew’s mother. “He needs to be relocated to an area with less children and no emotional community history tied to his convicted egregious behavior.”
But a judge denied his motion for reclassification in March 2025.
Tier 3 offenders, such as Drew, cannot establish a residence within 1,000 feet of any school, preschool, or day care facility.
“I think the church should take some responsibility in that, because they hid it for many years,” Hudepohl said. “Why couldn’t he go back to a retirement home? Why couldn’t he live with some of the retired priests? … He could read to them, he could make amends for some of the things that he has done.”
Then-Archbishop Dennis Schnurr placed Drew on an administrative leave of absence before his 2019 arrest, following accusations of inappropriate behavior with a student at St. Ignatius of Loyola in Green Township, which at the time was Ohio’s largest Catholic grade school.
Drew’s laicization was finalized in November 2023, and his name was subsequently placed on the list of clerics with substantiated allegations of sexual abuse on the archdiocese website, according to an Archdiocese of Cincinnati spokesperson.
He may no longer present himself as a priest. Additionally, he will not be permitted to volunteer in any capacity at any parish, school, or ministry under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, according to a spokesperson.
Drew owned a condominium in Green Township for 24 years, but he sold it in March 2020, seven months after his arrest, according to county auditor records.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction usually attempts to place inmates in halfway houses closest to their home counties to help with reintegration. Upon his release, Drew will serve 5 years of supervised release.
Drew, who is 64, is expected to be released on Aug. 17.
