Brooklyn high school employee facing child porn, cyberstalking charges
BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) -- A high school employee in Brooklyn is charged with sexual exploitation of a child after authorities say he enticed a minor to send sexually explicit videos on WhatsApp and threatened to publicly release them.
An 11-count indictment was unsealed Wednesday in federal court charged Brian Quinones, a 30-year-old paraprofessional at Midwood High School, with distribution of child of pornography, cyberstalking, and related offenses.
The charges relate to sexually explicit videos of a child that Quinones allegedly requested and received from a boy he met over the internet, as well as other sexually explicit images and videos he allegedly possessed and distributed.
Following a court-authorized search of Quinones' residence and the seizure of his electronic devices, FBI agents reportedly discovered a series of sexually explicit messages between Quinones, who was impersonating a woman, and the boy.
Authorities say Quinones then threatened to post the victim's material online unless he agreed to make additional sexually explicit content.
"I got everything you sent," Quinones allegedly wrote in a WhatsApp message, adding that he would "ruin" the victim.
Officials say Quinones also directed the boy to do "everything I tell u to do" and to "behave."
When the child declined to do so, Quinones allegedly threatened, "I'm ready to make u famous. Any last words?"
Quinones was arrested Wednesday, and if convicted of the top charge, he faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison.
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