A judge denied Geoff Drews request to reduce his sex offender status on Wednesday. The former priest and confessed rapist had hoped to make it more difficult for the public to know where hes living when hes released from prison in 2026.Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Leslie Ghiz signed a one-page entry overruling Drews motion without commenting.Drew filed a motion on January 9, asking to reclassify his sex offender status to a lower tier. This would have eliminated notifications to neighbors, schools, and child care centers within 1,000 feet of where Drew is living.Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich opposed the motion, calling it frivolous and too late to be considered.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 minister.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.A WCPO investigation revealed that priests, parents, and church and school officials knew about Drews 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 victim, but prosecutors said they could not file charges because the statute of limitations had expired.There is certainly a possibility that there could be more victims, said Teresa Dinwiddie-Herrmann, co-founder of Ohioans for Child Protection. I think that people in this community should be concerned and I think it's important that they know where he is living.Drew will remain classified as the highest level of sex offender. If a judge had reduced it to a second-tier sex status, he would register his address with the sheriffs department twice a year for 25 years, instead of every 90 days for his lifetime. It would also have removed all proactive community notifications of where hes living.He was pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola in Green Township and oversaw Ohios largest Catholic grade school. Then-Archbishop Dennis Schnurr placed Drew on an administrative leave of absence before his 2019 arrest.Drew is at the Noble Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison for men in Caldwell, Noble County, Ohio. His expected release date is Aug. 17, 2026.Watch our full investigation into Drew below: Looking at an ex-Cincinnati priest's child molestation case ahead of his prison release ...read more read less