A former math teacher and Jeopardy! contestant has been arrested after allegedly trying to get teenagers to send him sexually explicit images. Winston Nguyen, 37, previously taught math at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, New York, per Deadline, and appeared on two episodes of Jeopardy! in 2014. Nguyen allegedly posed as a teenager on Snapchat and asked teens from various elite schools in Brooklyn, New York, "to send images of them nude or performing sexual acts," according to the Brooklyn district attorney's office.
Nguyen has been charged with targeting six children, though the DA's office noted that Nguyen likely had "similar online interactions with numerous other children."
The known incidents occurred between October 2022 and May 2024, and Nguyen allegedly used two different Snapchat accounts to contact the children. The username for one of the accounts was hunterkristoff, and Nguyen allegedly used the account to send videos of a boy masturbating to the teens. Investigators determined that the boy in these videos "lives in another state and was 16 at the time."
From the same account, Nguyen reportedly asked children for sexually explicit images, and "[conducted] prolonged communications that described and depicted various sexual acts," according to the DA's office.
Nguyen also used an account with the username haircutbongos to send the same kind of messages. The children he sent these messages to were between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.
"It is alleged that the defendant shared some of the explicit photos he received from the victims when chatting with other children," according to the DA's office.
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Prosecutors claim that Nguyen paid one of the victims to send a sexually explicit video, which was then allegedly sent to other children. Nguyen reportedly surrendered himself to police on Thursday, July 25, 2024, according to Entertainment Weekly.
He was charged with use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child, first-degree disseminating indecent material to minors, third-degree conspiracy, third-degree criminal solicitation and endangering the welfare of a child, per the DA's office.
Saint Anne's fired Nguyen the day after charges were filed.
