Winston Nguyen, a former “Jeopardy!” champion and private school math teacher in Brooklyn Heights, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday for soliciting sexually explicit images from teenagers.
Nguyen, 38, of Harlem, pleaded guilty earlier this month to posing as a teenage boy on Snapchat and convincing students aged 13 to 15 to send him lewd photos and videos.
From October 2022 to May 2024, Nguyen used two Snapchat accounts — hunterkristoff and haircutbongos — to contact victims, pretending to be a teenage boy.
Prosecutors said he sent explicit images and videos depicting a teenage boy masturbating and engaged in prolonged sexual conversations with the victims. He then persuaded them to send him pictures and videos of themselves performing sexual acts.
The victims attended various Brooklyn private schools, including Saint Ann’s, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School, and Packer Collegiate Institute.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phillip Tisne sentenced Nguyen on March 16 to seven years in prison and 10 years of post-release supervision.
Nguyen, who taught at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, pleaded guilty on March 3 to one count of using a child in a sexual performance as a sexually motivated felony and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Upon his release, he must register as a sex offender.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez called Nguyen’s actions a “sickening betrayal of trust” in a statement. “Today’s sentencing holds him accountable for his actions while sparing the young and vulnerable victims from having to relive this emotional abuse in court,” Gonzalez said. “I commend the prosecutors and investigators who brought this defendant to justice and the young survivors who bravely stepped forward.”
Investigators linked the Snapchat accounts to IP addresses associated with Nguyen, including his Harlem residence. Other evidence included digital communications, images, and victim accounts, according to the DA’s office.
Nguyen gained brief fame after winning on the gameshow “Jeopardy!” in July 2014, appearing in two episodes. He was arrested on July 25, 2024 following and investigation by KCDA Detective Investigators, with the assistance of Senior Digital Forensic Analyst Sourov Talukder and Digital Forensic Analyst Richard Rojas, of the District Attorney’s Digital Evidence Lab.
