Former “Jeopardy” contestant Winston Nguyen arrested on child pornography charges
Nguyen, who taught at a private school in Brooklyn, surrendered himself to police on Thursday.
Former Jeopardy contestant Winston Nguyen has been arrested and charged with soliciting sexually explicit images of children, Entertainment Weekly can confirm.
Nguyen, who taught math at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York, was charged on Thursday 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, said the District Attorney’s office.
His attorney, Frank Rothman, told EW that Nguyen, 37, surrendered himself to police at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday and plans to plead "not guilty." Bail was set at $30,000 cash or $75,000 bond and Nguyen was ordered to return to court on Oct. 17.
In a statement to press, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, "A complicated investigation by detectives from my office revealed extremely disturbing conduct by this defendant, who allegedly posed as a peer to coax teenagers to send him sexually explicit images of themselves, which he then allegedly distributed. 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.”
Nguyen posed as a teenager on social media at least 11 times between October 2022 and May 2024, and he tried to persuade students to send him “images of nudity and sexual performances," said prosecutors. The teenagers — five girls and one boy between the ages of 13 and 15 — attended four private schools in Brooklyn: Saint Ann’s, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School, and Packer Collegiate Institute.
In a statement to The New York Times, Kenyatte Reid, the Head of School at Saint Ann’s, called Nguyen’s actions “deplorable and a deep violation of the trust we extended to him as a member of our community.”
He continued, “It is our role and responsibility as educators to create an environment in which our students are safe and supported, and these alleged actions are antithetical to our work and our mission.”
Nguyen was initially arrested in front of a crowd of students at Saint Ann’s in June. He was placed on administrative leave, according to Reid, and fired on Thursday after being charged.
Reid did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.
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Jeopardy viewers may recognize Nguyen for his two appearances on the game show in 2014.
Following his stint on the show, but prior to his employment at Saint Ann’s, Nguyen had a separate brush with the law: he was charged with grand larceny after being accused of stealing more than $300,000 from an elderly couple for whom he worked as a home aide.
He pled guilty to the charges in June of 2018 and was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation.
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