A former Jeopardy! champion who taught at an elite New York City private school was arrested in front of students in connection with the “dissemination of intimate images via social media,” officials reported.
“Nguyen wasn’t charged but is being investigated by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office,” sources confirmed to The Post.
Nguyen was released on Saturday, but his defense attorney is awaiting information from prosecutors regarding potential charges.
Saint Ann’s Head of School Kenyatte Reid informed parents that the educator, who taught junior high and high school students, was arrested as part of an investigation dating back to January 2024.
Days after Nguyen’s arrest, Reid updated parents, explaining that the arrest involved “inappropriate sexualized images” and that Nguyen was prohibited from contacting anyone at the school or entering the campus, the Daily Beast reported.
“This incident is very disturbing to all of us,” Reid wrote. “We pride ourselves on our amazing faculty and a learning environment rooted in trust.”
A spokeswoman from Saint Ann’s, where parents pay over $60,000 per year for tuition, confirmed to the Daily Beast that the teacher “is a suspect in an ongoing investigation related to the dissemination of intimate images via social media.”
Before his position at Saint Ann’s, Nguyen began his career as a caretaker for a blind 96-year-old man and his 92-year-old wife in 2009, according to Patch.
By 2015, prosecutors said Nguyen began stealing from the couple by using their bank account and credit cards to make over $100,000 in purchases and cash withdrawals, opening lines of credit, and writing himself more than $200,000 in checks.
During a stint at Rikers Island jail, Nguyen “publicly blasted” the city’s Department of Corrections, called into a radio show twice to speak with then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, and later filed a lawsuit against the city, according to the Post, which referred to him as an “activist inmate.”
Just one year after being released from jail in 2019, Nguyen secured the job at Saint Ann’s.
“The school gives a careful and discerning assessment of a job candidate’s potential fit with the school,” she added.
