MILLVILLE -- A Memorial High School teacher recently charged with sexual assault and accused of carrying on a four-month long relationship with a 14-year-old girl used Internet Web sites to communicate with the teenager, authorities confirmed Thursday.
Not long after 37-year-old Michael Drebes, a math teacher currently suspended with pay from the Millville school, began his alleged relationship with the teen, Drebes joined the social networking Web site Facebook.com.
Prior to that, he was a member of a similar Web site, MySpace.com.
While Drebes' MySpace account is private and only accessible to people he has "friended," his Facebook account is public.
Authorities said Thursday they are aware Drebes, who is being held on $500,000 bail and being supervised at Ann Klein Forensic Center pending clearance into a county correctional facility, is a member of both Web sites.
While moderators of the Facebook Web site have a policy of deleting accounts belonging to potential child abusers, as of Thursday, Drebes' Facebook account remained open.
The postings made to the Web site reveal much about Drebes or, at the very least, an image he tried to convey.
* He described himself as being "in a relationship." In numerous posts, Drebes spoke about being involved in a romantic relationship with a mystery woman, who he described only as "her."
Friends of Drebes, unaware that he was in any kind of relationship, asked who the woman was, but Drebes did not respond. Authorities believe the woman was the 14-year-old with whom Drebes was allegedly involved.
"I found HEAVEN! It does exist," Drebes wrote on March 22.
"Really, where?" someone responded.
"Maybe some day I will tell you all about Heaven, but right now it's only a place I can be," Drebes answered.
* On Memorial Day, May 25, the day after Drebes allegedly spent a weekend in Cape May with the 14-year-old girl and another 16-year-old student, Drebes wrote the cryptic message, "Romeo died for Juliet's love! Thinking!" He also changed his relationship status from "single" to "in a relationship."
This was the last post by Drebes prior to his arrest on June 4.
Cape May County prosecutors believe Drebes had sex with both girls during the Memorial Day weekend.
* Many times throughout the four-month period, Drebes' mood shifted from being happy to "stressed out." "Very stressed out," he wrote on April 5. "Don't know what to do about a major problem. I can't stop thinking about it. Haven't slept in days and it's making me feel sick."
Authorities learned about Drebes' alleged relationship through a friend of one of the two teenagers he is accused of assaulting.
Drebes is charged with numerous counts of sexual assault in both Cape May and Cumberland counties.
Memorial Day weekend was the last time authorities believe an illegal act took place between Drebes and a minor, but they believe up to 30 incidents may have occurred in Cumberland County prior to that.
Drebes is being investigated for incidents that may have occurred in Camden County, where he resided previously with his wife and their two children in Winslow Township.
Although Drebes has been a teacher in Millville for five years, he only moved to the area within the last four months.
He most recently lived in Lindenwold, according to his Facebook profile.
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