The teen victims of a former Brooklyn private school teacher recounted in court Wednesday how he ruined their lives, left them “sick with guilt and anger” and shattered their ability to trust other people when he fooled them into sending him nude photos.
Former St. Ann’s School teacher Winston Nguyen, a former winner on “Jeopardy,” was forced to hear the impact statements from two of his young victims before a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge ordered him locked away for seven years Wednesday.
“Knowing is not enough. I hope you’re haunted by the pain you’ve caused me and the people around you every single day,” said one victim in a statement read by assistant D.A. Daniel Newcombe in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday.
Another victim said she opened up to Nguyen, but his actions left her “sick with guilt and anger” not knowing how many people have seen the photos of herself she sent to him.
“If you really cared, you would not have ruined my life. You would not have preyed on me when I was weak,” the victim said in a written statement. “People have been slut-shaming me to my face without knowing it was me… My closest friends have laughed about it and I have had to sit there and force a smile.”
She added, “People who I do not know will judge me. I will always be the girl who sent nudes to the teacher. … I don’t know how many photographs are out there, or if they even have my face.”
Nguyen, 38, got a job at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights in 2020 despite spending time in jail for a six-figure fraud scheme — and he burned that second chance by posing as a teen to entice five girls and one boy on Snapchat from October 2022 to May 2024.
Nguyen used the screen name “hunterkristoff” to send a video depicting a nude boy masturbating to a 14-year-old victim, then asked the teen to send nude or sexual images. He communicated with four more victims, aged 13 to 15, from that account, and targeted a sixth victim, age 15, from an account named “haircutbongos.”
That last victim performed a sex act on video for Nguyen in exchange for money, prosecutors said.
The teens attended St. Ann’s School, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School and Packer Collegiate Institute.
Nguyen, who won $10,000 on “Jeopardy” in 2014, was arrested three years later on charges he swindled a couple in their 90s out of $335,000 by writing checks in their names and using their accounts and credit cards while working as a home health aide. He pleaded guilty to grand larceny and other charges in 2019, and served four months in jail.
Even so, he managed to get a job interview at St. Ann’s in August 2020, after his longtime-friend and the then-head of the upper middle school vouched for him, according to an outside investigative report commissioned by the school.
School administrators didn’t share his criminal record with students’ families and other teachers, and when his students found out on their own, he told them he “committed his crimes because he felt the need to buy things for his friends in order to be liked by them,” according to the report. Some students upset by his record were “shamed’ for not supporting restorative justice or for spreading rumors, according to the report.
“I deeply regret my actions and the harm I have caused especially to the community that has gone out of its way to support me,” Nguyen said before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Phillip Tisne imposed sentence. “The pain I caused to the victims and their families weigh heavily on me. … I truly want them to know I am sorry for what I’ve done.”
His sentence was part of a plea deal negotiated by the Brooklyn DA’s office and his defense lawyer. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to use of a child in a sexual performance as a sexually motivated felony and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
As part of his plea deal, Nguyen must also serve 10 years on supervised release and register as a sex offender.
