NEW YORK: A former teacher at an elite private high school in Brooklyn was charged July 25 with soliciting sexually explicit images of children, prosecutors said.

The teacher, Winston Nguyen, who was arrested in front of students last month, taught math at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights. Between October 2022 and May 2024, Nguyen pretended at least 11 times to be a teenager and “fellow student” on social media, then enticed or tried to entice teenage students to send him “images of nudity and sexual performances”, according to prosecutors at the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.

Nguyen, 37, who lives in Harlem, used two Snapchat accounts to exchange messages with the children - five girls and one boy, all between the ages of 13 and 15 - prosecutors said. The teenagers attended four private schools in Brooklyn: Saint Ann’s, Poly Prep Country Day School, Berkeley Carroll School and Packer Collegiate Institute.

Nguyen was 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.

Frank Rothman, Nguyen’s lawyer, said his client turned himself in to prosecutors in Brooklyn on Thursday morning.

“We arranged for his surrender with the prosecutors and detectives,” Rothman said. “He showed up and will be processed like any other defendant.”

Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said the investigation into Nguyen had “revealed extremely disturbing conduct”, adding, “the fact that he was a teacher and a trusted figure among students make these allegations even more troubling.”

Kenyatte Reid, head of school at Saint Ann’s, said in an emailed statement that the actions Nguyen is charged with are “deplorable and a deep violation of the trust we extended to him as a member of our community”.

“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,” Reid said.

Nguyen was placed on administrative leave after his arrest in June, according to Reid, and he was fired after he was charged Thursday.

According to prosecutors, Nguyen paid a child on one occasion to send a sexually explicit video to him. He also shared explicit photos he had received with other children, prosecutors said.

Nguyen was expected to be arraigned Thursday afternoon.

Before he was hired at Saint Ann’s, Nguyen was charged with grand larceny after he was accused of stealing more than US$300,000 from an older couple he was hired to care for, according to Manhattan prosecutors at the time.

Nguyen used the money he stole from the couple - a blind 96-year-old man and his 92-year-old wife - to buy trips to Florida and tickets to the ballet and Broadway shows, prosecutors said.

Nguyen pleaded guilty to the charges in June 2018 and was sentenced to six months in jail and five years of probation, according to prosecutors. He spent about five months in jail.

 - NY Times