A swanky Brooklyn non-public college knowingly employed an ex-con who was later accused of soliciting youngster porn from college students — after which “shamed” college students and fogeys who raised issues about his employment, a scathing investigative report has discovered.
The elite Saint Ann’s College commissioned an unbiased probe into its personal hiring of Winston Nguyen after the trainer was arrested in June for allegedly catfishing children on-line and fooling them into sending him X-rated images of themselves.
The report, which was made public on Tuesday, discovered that prime directors had allowed the previous “Jeopardy!” champion to begin instructing in 2020 — earlier than the outcomes of his background verify got here by means of.
And even once they grew to become conscious that Nguyen, 38, had simply served time for swindling $300,000 from an aged couple, directors gave him a full-time contract and failed to speak information of his rap sheet to Saint Ann’s households and lecturers, the report fees.
The 39-page report put collectively by an outdoor regulation agency repeatedly cites the choices of three directors in Nguyen’s hiring — together with then-head of faculty, Vincent Tompkins; then-dean of school, Melissa Kantor; and then-upper center college head, Maureen Yusuf-Morales.
“Tompkins and Kantor determined to rent Nguyen, partially, due to their view that Saint Ann’s as an establishment ‘believes in second possibilities’ and hiring somebody with a prison document was a chance to behave in accordance with what they noticed as the varsity’s values,” the report states.
When college students finally found through the 2021-22 college 12 months that Nguyen had lately served a stint at Rikers Island for fraud and endangering the welfare of an incompetent or bodily disabled particular person, investigators famous that directors appeared to protect him from any backlash.
“A number of witnesses reported to investigators that Nguyen seemed to be protected against criticism by senior directors, together with Tompkins, Kantor, and Yusuf-Morales, partially
as a result of his hiring was seen by these directors as an expression of the varsity’s progressive values,” the report mentioned.
“A number of witnesses informed investigators that college students who expressed that they had been upset or
talked about Nguyen’s conviction with different college students had been ‘shamed’ by Yusuf-Morales for not
supporting restorative justice or for spreading rumors,” the report added.
Individually, the report additionally discovered that when the varsity later grew to become conscious {that a} then-unidentified particular person was focusing on college students on-line in a bid to get sexually express photographs, directors — but once more — failed to inform mother and father.
“Saint Ann’s directors determined that communication in regards to the subject would draw undesirable consideration to the catfishing victims,” the report, carried out by the regulation agency Debevoise & Plimpton, mentioned.
“Thus, info that some Saint Ann’s college students had been being focused by an unknown Snapchat account was not shared past a small group of directors.”
The varsity “labored with some households who made a report back to regulation enforcement” in regards to the catfishing — however didn’t attain out to the district lawyer’s workplace, in line with the report.
Nguyen ended up being dramatically arrested in June in entrance of his college students after cops alleged he was behind the catfishing scheme.
He allegedly posed as a teen on Snapchat and engaged in lots of of sexualized chats with children as younger as 13 — trolling them for nudes and movies of sexual performances, in line with a prison grievance.
He’s accused of victimizing no less than six kids who attended a fancy cluster of Brooklyn non-public faculties: Berkeley Carroll College, Packer Collegiate Institute, Poly Prep Nation Day College and his employer, Saint Ann’s College, prosecutors mentioned.
All three directors named within the report have since left the varsity. The Publish’s efforts to succeed in them had been unsuccessful Wednesday.
Tompkins, who has since retired, informed the New York Instances in a press release, “Winston Nguyen’s alleged actions are abhorrent and reprehensible, and so they contravene the core values of Saint Ann’s College.”
Kantor declined to remark to the outlet.
In the meantime, the varsity’s present head, Kenyatte Reid, apologized to the varsity group — describing the report’s findings as “deeply disturbing.”
“I’m profoundly sorry for the ache this has induced our group and I’m resolute in ensuring we shield, affirm, and look after our kids,” Reid wrote in a press release posted on the Saint Ann’s web site.
“The report’s findings dropped at gentle the numerous causes former worker Winston Nguyen was in a position to exploit kids at Saint Ann’s. The knowledge offered on this report is deeply disturbing and tough to course of, however it’s mandatory for our path ahead.”
Supply hyperlink
