Brooklyn School Worker Charged In Child Porn Blackmail Scheme: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — A man who formerly worked at a Brooklyn high school stands accused of tricking a boy into sending him sexually explicit content and blackmailing him into sending more, federal prosecutors announced.

An indictment unsealed Wednesday details various child pornography, cyberstalking and sexual exploitation of a child charges against Brian Quinones, 30, who used to work one-on-one with students with special needs at Midwood High School, according to the Department of Justice.

"Any kind of sexual exploitation of a minor is absolutely detestable behavior," said NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. "But when the suspect has also been entrusted with our communities’ children, it is especially disturbing."

Federal prosecutors accused Quinones of tricking a 15-year-old boy into sending him sexually explicit videos by pretending to be a woman, and then threatening to post the boy's material online unless he made more.

"I’m ready to make u famous[.] Any last words?" Quinones wrote in a WhatsApp message to the boy after the teenager refused to meet one of his sexually explicit demands, prosecutors allege.

Federal prosecutors also accused Quinones of ordering the boy to do "[e]verything I tell u to do" and threatening to "ruin" him over WhatsApp.

"Sexual predators often prey on the terror children experience when they are coerced and manipulated into creating explicit photos and videos," said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll. "Children often fear going to an adult to report what's happened because they're humiliated, and they believe the threats."

Quinones also stands accused of trading dozens of videos and images of child pornography with another person, who is also facing child pornography-related charges, prosecutors said.

The Sheepshead Bay resident was arrested Wednesday and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon, according to the Department of Justice.

He could face a mandatory minimum of 15 years' imprisonment if convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, prosecutors said.