Jeopardy! Winner Joey DeSena Faces New Charges in Wake County
The engineer is accused of possessing explicit images of children and was denied bail after his second arrest in under a year.
By Noah Dvorak ·
Philip Joseph DeSena was denied bond at a hearing in Wake County on Monday. The 44-year-old engineer, who resides in Raleigh, was booked into the Wake County Jail following an arrest on Oct. 23.
Court records list 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor against DeSena. An arrest warrant states the charges arise from the alleged possession of sexually explicit pictures and videos depicting children. He is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 16 to address these new charges.
This is DeSena's second arrest in less than a year. He was first taken into custody on Dec. 1, 2025, and charged with two counts of felony secret peeping. That case involved the alleged recording of a female in a bedroom and bathroom. On July 27, 2026, DeSena pleaded guilty to those peeping charges.
The court sentenced him to 60 months of probation for the first offense. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service and to undergo a mental health assessment. Court records indicate the evaluation should be conducted by a psychiatrist or psychologist specializing in psychosexual treatment.
DeSena gained public attention in November 2024 when he won two episodes of the game show Jeopardy!. He earned a total of $44,698 between those two victories. He later participated in the show's Winter 2025 Champions Wildcard tournament in January.
Source: WVUE-DT
