NYC private school knowingly hired ex-con Winston Nguyen: report

A posh Brooklyn private school knowingly hired an ex-contractor who later Accused of soliciting children for obscenity Students raised concerns about their employment – and then “shamed” students and parents, a scathing investigative report has found.

The elite St. Ann’s School launched an independent investigation into its hiring of Winston Nguyen after the teacher’s arrest in June. Allegedly catfishing children online And fooling them into sending her X-rated pictures.

The report, which was made public Tuesday, found that top administrators had abused former “Jeopardy!” Was allowed. Champion is scheduled to begin teaching in 2020 — before the results of her background check are known.

And even when they learned that Nguyen, 38, had just spent time An elderly couple defrauded of $300,000Administrators gave him a full-time contract and failed to inform St. Ann’s families and teachers of his rap sheet, the report alleges.

The 39-page report prepared by an outside law firm repeatedly cites the decisions of three administrators in Nguyen’s appointment – ​​including the then-head of the school, Vincent Tompkins; then-dean of the faculty, Melissa Kantor; and then high school head, Maureen Joseph-Morales.

“Tompkins and Kantor decided to hire Nguyen because they thought St. Ann’s as an institution ‘believes in second chances’ and hiring someone with a criminal record would be in keeping with the school’s values. There was an opportunity to do so,” the report said.

When students ultimately learned during the 2021–22 school year that Nguyen had recently served time at Rikers Island for fraud and endangering the welfare of an incapacitated or physically disabled person, investigators noted that The administrators were protecting him from any reaction.

“Multiple witnesses told investigators that it appeared that Nguyen was protected from criticism by senior administrators, including Tompkins, Kantor and Joseph-Morales.
Because his appointment was viewed by those administrators as an expression of the school’s progressive values,” the report said.

“Multiple witnesses told investigators that students who expressed that they were upset or
Nguyen’s punishment talked about with other students, but Joseph-Morales didn’t ‘sham’ them
To support restorative justice or spread rumours,” the report said.

Separately, the report also found that when the school later learned that an unidentified individual was targeting students online to receive sexually explicit images, administrators — once again — told parents. Failed in.

“St. Ann’s administrators decided that communications about this issue would draw unwanted attention to catfishing victims,” ​​the report, conducted by law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, said.

“Thus, the information that some St. Ann’s students were being targeted by an unknown Snapchat account was not shared beyond a small group of administrators.”

According to the report, the school “worked with some families who made a report to law enforcement about catfishing” – but did not reach out to the district attorney’s office.

nguyen is finished was dramatically arrested in June He came forward to his students after police alleged he was behind the catfishing scheme.

According to a criminal complaint, he allegedly posed as a teen on Snapchat and engaged in hundreds of sexually explicit chats with children under the age of 13 — trolling them for videos of nudity and sexual performance.

Prosecutors said he is accused of victimizing at least six youths who attended a posh group of Brooklyn private schools: Berkeley Carroll School, Packer Collegiate Institute, Poly Prep Country Day School and his employer, St. Ann’s School.

All three administrators named in the report have left the school. The Post’s efforts to reach him were unsuccessful on Wednesday.

Tompkins, now retired, told new York Times In a statement, “The alleged actions of Winston Nguyen are abhorrent and reprehensible, and they violate the core values ​​of St. Ann’s School.”

Kantor declined to comment to the outlet.

Meanwhile, the current head of the school, Kenyatta Reid, apologized to the school community – calling the report’s findings “deeply disturbing”.

In a statement posted on St. Ann’s website, Reed wrote, “I am deeply sorry for the pain this has caused our community and I am determined to ensure we continue to protect, affirm and care for our children.” Do it.”

“The report’s findings reveal numerous reasons why former employee Winston Nguyen was able to exploit children at St. Ann. The information presented in this report is extremely disturbing and difficult to process, but it is necessary for us to move forward.