Brooklyn high school paraprofessional charged with producing child pornography and sextortion scheme

May 12, 2022 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Midwood High School. Map data © 2013-2016 Google

Midwood High School. Map data © 2013-2016 Google

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An education paraprofessional of Midwood High School was charged with distribution of child pornography, cyberstalking and other related offenses on Wednesday through an unsealed 11-count indictment. The charges relate to sexually explicit videos defendant Brian Quinones, 30, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, requested and received from a boy he met through the internet, along with additional images and videos that he possessed and distributed. Quinones was arrested and arraigned Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo.

In the time between September 2019 and January 2020, Quinones used an instant messaging app to exchange dozens of videos and images containing child pornography with another individual, who has since been charged with child pornography-related offenses, per court filings.

In a court-authorized search of Quinones’ residence, FBI Special Agents discovered sexually explicit messages between Quinones – who was impersonating a woman – and a minor male victim, John Doe, who Quinones lured into creating and sending videos. He would threaten to post the victim’s material online unless the victim agreed to make additional sexually explicit content.

The defendant stated in a WhatsApp message: “I got everything you sent,” adding that he would “ruin” John Doe. The defendant directed John Doe to do “[e]verything I tell u to do” and to “behave.” He then wrote, “Get on your hands and knees.” When John Doe declined to do so, the defendant threatened, “I’m ready to make u famous[.] Any last words?’

If convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, Quinones faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Keechant L. Sewell, Commissioner, New York City Police Department (NYPD), announced the arrest and charges.

“As alleged, Quinones was a prolific trader of child pornography who posed as a woman in order to solicit sexually explicit videos from a minor boy, then blackmailed the victim with cruel threats to post the material on the Internet,” said U.S. Attorney Peace. “This Office is working diligently with our law enforcement partners to address the online exploitation of minors and protect our children from predators like Quinones.” Mr. Peace thanked the FBI-NYPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force for its investigative work on the case.

The prosecution is a part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child abuse and sexual exploitation.

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