Jeopardy! Champion Charged With Child Pornography

Ryan Schwartz
·2 min read
9

Former Jeopardy! competitor Winston Nguyen has surrendered to police after he was charged with soliciting sexually explicit images of children.

According to The New York Times, Nguyen — who taught math at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and was first arrested in June — has been charged with use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child and disseminating indecent material to a minor, among other charges.

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Prosecutors from the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office tell the Times that, between October 2022 and May 2024, the high school teacher allegedly “pretended at least 11 times to be a teenager and ‘fellow student’ on social media, during which he enticed or tried to entice teenage students” — five girls and one boy, all between the ages of 13 and 15 — “to send him ‘images of nudity and sexual performances.'” Nguyen is said to have paid one child to send a sexually explicit video to him. He also shared explicit photos he had received with other children.

He is expected to face arraignment Thursday afternoon.

Prior to being employed at Saint Ann’s, Nguyen worked as a home health aide. In 2018, he was charged with grand larceny after he stole more than $300,000 from an elderly couple — a blind 96-year-old man and his 92-year-old wife. At the time, he was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation.

Nguyen on <em>Jeopardy!</em> <cite>Pluto TV screenshot</cite>
Nguyen on Jeopardy! Pluto TV screenshot

Nguyen was working as a home health aide when he appeared on two episodes of Jeopardy! in 2014 — first during the last regular game play of Season 30, on July 18 of that year, when he walked away a champion (with $10,067). He then returned for the Season 31 premiere, on Sept. 15, where he finished in third place (with $2).

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