Ex-federal agent admits guilt in child sex abuse case as attorney recounts harrowing surrender
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A former Homeland Security agent is expected to spend years in federal prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to sexually exploiting a teenage girl and producing videos of the abuse.
Timothy Gregg is the third Minnesota-based law enforcement officer charged with creating or possessing child sex abuse material this year.
In late May, the father of a 17-year-old girl called police after finding photos and videos on his daughter’s phone of the teen engaging in sexual activity with a much older man.
The victim told officers that she connected with Timothy Ryan Gregg — then 51 — on the dating app Tinder and met with him at hotels at least nine times throughout the spring.
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The teen told investigators that she believed the sex was consensual. While Minnesota’s age of consent is 16, the videos that Gregg made of the victim are illegal child sex abuse material because she was a minor.
Wearing an orange Sherburne County Jail uniform, Gregg appeared in federal court and pleaded guilty to a single count of transporting child sex abuse images for texting the photos and videos that he took to the teen.
Gregg’s crimes ended his three-decade year law enforcement career. Most recently, he served as a Homeland Security Investigations agent and an FBI task force officer.
Along with dozens of other agents, Gregg was preparing to take part in a June 3 raid of eight locations, including a Lake Street restaurant, as part of an investigation into drug smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering in the Twin Cities. When he was called into work early, Gregg realized he was in trouble.
“After 33 years of state and federal law enforcement time, I felt that in a blink of an eye my career was over,” Gregg told U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen before entering his guilty plea. “It was moment of panic, your honor.”
Under oath, Gregg said that the victim had listed her age as 19 on Tinder and later told him the same thing. But he also admitted that he looked her up in a law enforcement database and continued with the relationship even after learning her real age.
Defense attorney Ryan Pacyga said that he was headed to an unrelated hearing in Wisconsin when he got a phone call from Gregg on June 3. Pacyga learned that his new client was armed and feared he was suicidal.
“He’s staying on the phone with me and I’m telling him ‘Hey, let’s turn in peacefully’ as he’s contemplating, I think, whether to live or die that day,” Pacyga told MPR News in an interview after the hearing.
Pacyga said that he met up with Gregg and convinced him to hand over the two service pistols he was carrying. Pacyga locked the weapons in his car, then got into Gregg’s unmarked squad car.
The two spent hours driving around while Pacyga tried to convince Gregg to surrender. The lawyer had help over the phone from then-Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson and an FBI negotiator.
“He just couldn’t bring himself to do it because he was panicking,” Pacyga said.
Pacyga said he never feared for his personal safety. But FBI agents were following them on the road, and the negotiator told the attorney to get out of the car or they’d consider him a hostage.
Pacyga complied, but his concern grew when he learned that Gregg had a third handgun in a lockbox in the trunk. Pacyga — who has no training in crisis negotiations — got on the phone with Gregg and convinced to come to his office in Eagan and hand over the other gun. The two waited there, and Gregg surrendered peacefully to his former FBI colleagues that evening.
Gregg faces a mandatory minimum five year prison sentence. But his plea agreement with federal prosecutors calls for up to 17-and-a-half years. The final decision is up to Judge Ericksen, who has yet to set a sentencing date.
Gregg is the third Minnesota law enforcement agent to plead guilty to crimes involving child sex abuse materials this year. On Oct. 8, former state trooper Jeremy Plonski admitted to sexually assaulting a baby while in uniform and making videos of the abuse.
In September, Anthony John Crowley of Minnetonka — a former border patrol agent — admitted using a messaging app to upload child sex abuse images. All three men are being held in the Sherburne County Jail as they await sentencing.
A 24-hour statewide sexual violence and domestic violence hotline is available in Minnesota. You can call Minnesota Day One at (866) 223-1111 or text (612) 399-9995.
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call or text 988 to get connected with trained counselors. The 988 suicide and crisis lifeline is available 24/7.
