Three-time Jeopardy! winner admits to being Peeping Tom and installing cameras in apartment to watch people strip

Published: 02:08, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 02:11, 30 July 2026 A three-time Jeopardy! winner pleaded guilty to two felony charges of being a Peeping Tom. Philip Joseph 'Joey' DeSena, was arrested in December 2025 in Maple, North Carolina after he installed a camera in an unknowing victim's bathroom and bedroom at a rental property in Corolla. The software developer, who hails from Raleigh, 'unlawfully, willfully, and feloniously' put in 'any device that can be used to create photographic image, namely a camera placed in the bathroom, with the intent to capture the image of another without their consent,' according to the indictment. He was charged with two counts of felony secret peeping and pleaded guilty on Monday, where he received a 60-month probationary sentence. The harrowing incident unfolded on October 10, 2025, when the victim told police she found two black USB wall chargers with hidden cameras inside the rental home while visiting for a wedding, prosecutors alleged at the hearing, according to WAVY.  DeSena turned himself in on December 1, 2025, and was released two days later after he posted $5,000 bail.  DeSena made his inaugural Jeopardy! appearance on November 11, 2024, won that night and came back and won again November 12 The Peeping Tom made his inaugural Jeopardy! appearance on November 11, 2024, won that night and came back and won again November 12. Although he lost on November 13, cutting off his winning streak, he returned January 2025 for the Champions Wildcard tournament and made the semifinals. In March 2025 a previous Jeopardy! winner, New York City math teacher Winston Nguyen, was sentenced to seven years in prison for catfishing his students into sending him lewd images. Nguyen, who competed in and won Jeopardy! in 2014, was ultimately arrested in June 2024 and charged with a litany of offences.  Nguyen was given a second chance in 2020 to teach at the prestigious Saint Ann's private school in Brooklyn after he was convicted on fraud charges. But just four years later, the math teacher was arrested again - sending the prep school spiraling into a PR crisis. Jeopardy! contestant Philip Joseph 'Joey' DeSena, who won two nights in a row last year, has been arrested and accused by the authorities of being a peeping tom In 2022, students at Saint Ann's and other private schools within Brooklyn began reporting that they were receiving solicitations via Snapchat for inappropriate photos and videos.  Some of these students were as young as 13.  The District Attorney's office alerted Saint Ann's in February 2024 that an investigation was taking place into the anonymous account. Parents were not notified.