Former Jeopardy! champion and Brooklyn private school teacher Winston Nguyen pleaded guilty on Monday afternoon to soliciting sexually explicit images of children, expecting to land him seven years behind bars.
The 38-year-old became famous after appearing on the hit game show in July 2014, becoming a Jeopardy! champion and appearing on two episodes. However, he hit the spotlight again a decade later for very different reasons.
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office, while working as a math teacher at St. Ann’s School, Nguyen posed as a teenager over the social media app Snapchat from October 2022 to May 2024.
Posing as a child himself, prosecutors said, he convinced some students to send him lewd photos and videos. His victims not only attended the school at which he worked, but also Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School, and Packer Collegiate Institute.
“The fact that he was a teacher and a trusted figure among students make these allegations even more troubling. We will now seek to hold him accountable and will continue to work diligently to protect children from sexual exploitation,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement at the time of the arrest.
Nguyen was reportedly cuffed while working in front of students on July 25, 2024, and has been engaged in the ensuing legal battle since.
According to court documents, Nguyen’s victims ranged in age between 13 and 16. Using the account name “hunterkristoff,” he not only requested that the victims send him the disturbing content, he also paid them for it.
This is not the first time he has been in trouble with law enforcement. In 2019, he pleaded guilty to stealing some $300,000 from his senior employers while he worked as a home health aid.
On March 3, Nguyen appeared before a Brooklyn judge and pleaded guilty to use of a child in a sexual performance as a sexually motivated felony and five counts of endangering the welfare of children under the age of 17. He was taken into custody and will undergo a pre-sentencing evaluation. He is expected to be sentenced to seven years in prison and ten years post-prison supervision. He will also have to register as a sex offender.
“Today’s plea holds this defendant responsible for his disturbing and predatory conduct while sparing young and vulnerable victims from ever having to testify about their traumatic experiences,” Gonzalez said. ”This kind of exploitation of children, made even more distressing by the fact that the defendant was a trusted school figure, will never be tolerated in Brooklyn, and we will continue to expose and root it out.”
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