Overwatch pro Fr3e found guilty of sexual assault involving minor, sentenced to 12 months in prison

South Korean Overwatch player Yoon "Fr3e" Tae-in, who according to news reports from South Korea, has been found guilty of sexual assault of a minor and was been sentenced to 12 months in prison and 40 hours of sex offender treatment.

The 20-year-old has been a professional Overwatch player since 2017 representing teams in Apex such as LW Red and KongDoo Uncia, he was seen most recently playing for OZ Gaming in Contenders Korea, the second tier of Korean Overwatch..

(Photo: OGN)

The incident in question, which became public in June 2019, involves the player molesting his ex-girlfriend while she slept. At the time of the offence she was a minor.

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Thanks to Overwatch community member Gatamchun, who provides translations from the Korean Overwatch scene, we learned that OZ Gaming was aware of the issues, and after hearing Fr3e's version, they decided it was all but a "misunderstanding during the relationship". The organisation has now released him following the guilty verdict.

Today, with Fr3e's sentencing, Oz Gaming put out a statement about also ending their contract with Fr3e. Oz Gaming states that, while they were aware of the incident, they listened only to Fr3e's version of events and perceived it as a "misunderstanding during the relationship."

— 아나탈 (@gatamchun) September 10, 2020

Fr3e, who was looking for a chance to get into the Overwatch League last year after signing with North American squad Meta Skyfoxes when the incident came to light, ended up being dropped by them, signing with a Chinese team (Lucky Future), with seemingly no legal repercussions for his actions.

Now, on top of serving time behind bars, the Fr3e will have to do 40 hours of sex offender treatment, a rehabilitation program aimed at helping convicted felons control their impulse-control problems.

This is far from the first sexual misconduct problem the Overwatch community has faced, with the most recent one involving former pro player Mouffin being accused of sexual misconduct. He was subsequently dropped by his OWL team, the Boston Uprising. 

Overwatch's Fr3e found guilty of sexual assault