Latest news with #St.Ann'sSchool
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Werner Books hosts Patio Pup Night with treats and ice cream
Dog owners brought their loyal companions to a local bookstore Wednesday night for an evening of reading and relaxation. Werner Books on Liberty Street hosted its Patio Pup Night, inviting dog owners and their pets to treat themselves to some coffee and ice cream. St. Ann's School celebrates centennial with complete renovation Dogs of all shapes and sizes came to the patio to enjoy a special pup-cup from the Sundae Ice Cream Truck or a homemade snack from the newly formed Treat Your Pup! dog treats. 'I was baking these for all my neighbors' dogs and someone said, 'You should sell those,' and I was like, 'Alright, I'll try it,' and it's going great,' said Lynn Jones, the owner of Treat Your Pup!. Wehrle Hall gives Erie Fire Dept. unique training opportunity before demolition 'I feel like we've had some crazy and cold weather every now and then recently, so we had a great night to start this, and we have a couple more planned for later in the summer too,' Kaitlyn Myers, the events coordinator for Werner Books & Coffee, told us. This Friday, June 13, Werner Books will be hosting a family fun day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to celebrate Father's Day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Yahoo
Teen victims recount how Brooklyn teacher ‘ruined' their lives before he gets 7 years for enticing students to send nudes
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.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘Jeopardy' winner and Brooklyn private school teacher admits he enticed teens into sending nudes
NEW YORK — A former 'Jeopardy' winner and math teacher at a posh Brooklyn private school pleaded guilty Monday in exchange for a seven-year sentence to charges he posed as a teen and enticed students to send him nudes on social media. The elite St. Ann's School in Brooklyn Heights first hired Winston Nguyen, 38, in August 2020 to fill a 'classroom assistant' role handling COVID-related remote learning issues, despite his conviction the prior year on fraud charges. He started teaching math full time in 2021. His creepy catfishing scheme began the next year, and from October 2022 to May 2024, he used Snapchat to chat up at least five girls and one boy in at least 11 separate incidents. The victims were students at Saint Ann's School, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School and Packer Collegiate Institute. Nguyen pleaded guilty before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Philip Tisne to a single count of 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, he must also serve 10 years on supervised release and register as a sex offender. He was cuffed after his guilty plea and ordered held without bail, and is slated to be sentenced March 17. 'There was really never an issue about whether or not he had to plea guilty,' said his lawyer, Franklin Rothman said. 'There's very little defense one can proffer when you have images on your phone … It was never an issue of him denying responsibility.' Rothman said he expects Nguyen will apologize to his victims and to the people who trusted him when he's sentenced in two weeks. Nguyen used the account name 'hunterkristoff' to send a video depicting a nude boy masturbating to a 14-year-old, then asked the teen to send nude or sexual images. He communicated with four more victims, aged 13 to 15, from that account. Nguyen communicated with a sixth victim, age 15, from an account named 'haircutbongos,' and in May 2024, the teen performed a sex act on video for Nguyen in exchange for money, prosecutors said. Several students at St. Ann's reported falling prey to catfishing schemes starting in February 2024, and the school contacted authorities, but school leadership didn't learn of Nguyen's involvement until his arrest in June, according to an investigative report commissioned by the school. Investigators tied the two accounts to IP addresses connected to Nguyen's Harlem home, and the Brooklyn D.A.'s office charged him on a criminal complaint in June. 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. One of the victims, who was blind, blasted Nguyen as a 'terrible person' in a 2017 interview with the Daily News. He pleaded guilty to grand larceny and other charges in 2019, and served four months in jail. The then-head of the upper middle school at St. Ann's, Maureen Yusuf-Morales, a longtime friend of Nguyen, got him a job interview in August 2020, vouching for him and assuring the then-dean of faculty Melissa Kantor that he had reformed, according to the 39-page investigative report. The school hired him before his background check was completed, and even after they got the results, administrators kept him on staff and didn't share his criminal record with students' families and other teachers, the report found. When students found out on their own by looking him up on the internet and confronting him in class in October 2021, 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. A number of students upset with the revelations were 'shamed' by Yusuf-Morales for not supporting restorative justice or for spreading rumors, according to the report. '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,' Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Monday. '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.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
‘Jeopardy' winner and Brooklyn private school teacher admits he enticed teens into sending nudes
A former 'Jeopardy' winner and math teacher at a posh Brooklyn private school pleaded guilty Monday in exchange for a seven-year sentence to charges he posed as a teen and enticed students to send him nudes on social media. The elite St. Ann's School in. Brooklyn Heights first hired Winston Nguyen, 38, in August 2020 to fill a 'classroom assistant' role handling COVID-related remote learning issues, despite his conviction the prior year on fraud charges. He started teaching math full time in 2021. His creepy catfishing scheme began the next year, and from October 2022 to May 2024, he used Snapchat to chat up at least five girls and one boy in at least 11 separate incidents. The victims were students at Saint Ann's School, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School and Packer Collegiate Institute. Nguyen pleaded guilty before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Philip Tisne to a single count of 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, he must also serve 10 years on supervised release and register as a sex offender. He was cuffed after his guilty plea and ordered held without bail, and is slated to be sentenced March 17. 'There was really never an issue about whether or not he had to plea guilty,' said his lawyer, Franklin Rothman said. 'There's very little defense one can proffer when you have images on your phone … It was never an issue of him denying responsibility.' Rothman said he expects Nguyen will apologize to his victims and to the people who trusted him when he's sentenced in two weeks. Nguyen used the account name 'hunterkristoff' to send a video depicting a nude boy masturbating to a 14-year-old, then asked the teen to send nude or sexual images. He communicated with four more victims, aged 13 to 15, from that account. Nguyen communicated with a sixth victim, age 15, from an account named 'haircutbongos,' and in May 2024, the teen performed a sex act on video for Nguyen in exchange for money, prosecutors said. Several students at St. Ann's reported falling prey to catfishing schemes starting in February 2024, and the school contacted authorities, but school leadership didn't learn of Nguyen's involvement until his arrest in June, according to an investigative report commissioned by the school. Investigators tied the two accounts to IP addresses connected to Nguyen's Harlem home, and the Brooklyn D.A.'s office charged him on a criminal complaint in June. 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. One of the victims, who was blind, blasted Nguyen as a 'terrible person' in a 2017 interview with the Daily News. He pleaded guilty to grand larceny and other charges in 2019, and served four months in jail. The then-head of the upper middle school at St. Ann's, Maureen Yusuf-Morales, a longtime friend of Nguyen, got him a job interview in August 2020, vouching for him and assuring the then-dean of faculty Melissa Kantor that he had reformed, according to the 39-page investigative report. The school hired him before his background check was completed, and even after they got the results, administrators kept him on staff and didn't share his criminal record with students' families and other teachers, the report found. When students found out on their own by looking him up on the internet and confronting him in class in October 2021, 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. A number of students upset with the revelations were 'shamed' by Yusuf-Morales for not supporting restorative justice or for spreading rumors, according to the report. '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,' Brooklyn D.A. Eric Gonzalez said Monday. '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.
