Brooklyn high school paraprofessional was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually exploiting a child.
Brian Quinones was found guilty of convincing a minor to send sexually explicit videos of himself through WhatsApp and threatened to publish the child if the minor didn’t send more.
Quinones pleaded guilty to the charge. As part of his sentence, Quinones will register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
Between September 2019 and January 2020, Quinones, who worked as a paraprofessional, a teaching assistant, at Midwood High School, traded dozens of videos and images depicting child pornography with another person who has also been charged with child pornography-related offenses.
“The defendant’s sextortion of a minor is unconscionable, cruel, and deserving of
the punishment he received today in order to protect our communities for the lifetime of harm he
has inflicted on his victims,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “I urge parents and caregivers
to have frank conversations with their children about the dangers of communicating online with
strangers who can pretend to be anyone or anything while making inappropriate requests for photos and videos.”
The FBI discovered a series of sexually explicit messages between Quinones, who pretended to be a woman, and a minor male victim.
“I like making boys into slaves,” read a direct message Quinones sent to another user through his Twitter account, discussing the extortion scheme.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit projectsafechildhood.gov.
