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Press Release
MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Travis Greil, 40, Wausau, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 8 ½ years in prison for secretly producing videos that depict minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. This term of imprisonment is to be followed by three years of supervised release. Greil pleaded guilty to this charge on May 13, 2021.
Greil was a teacher at D.C. Everest Senior High School for approximately 15 years. On February 12, 2020, a parent reported that his daughter, one of Greil’s students, thought that Greil had taken a picture of her, up her skirt. The daughter was interviewed and explained that something similar had also happened to one of her friends.
Later that night, school officials obtained Greil’s electronic devices and turned them over to law enforcement. Law enforcement eventually searched the defendant’s personal iPad and found 132 videos of 81 underage female students and 1 adult, dating from September 2015 to February 2020. It appeared that all the videos were taken at Greil’s desk at the school and were either “up-blouse” images that focused on the victim’s breasts or “up-skirt” images that focused on victim’s pubic area or buttocks.
At the sentencing, numerous victims told the Court how Greil’s actions had impacted their lives, expressing feelings including anger and betrayal. Judge Conley noted the defendant used his position of trust as an educator to manipulate his bright and ambitious students and called the defendant’s conduct predatory.
The charge against Greil was the result of an investigation conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation – Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; Wisconsin Department of Justice Office of Crime Victim Services; Everest Metro and Wausau Police Departments; Marathon County Sheriff’s Office; Marathon County District Attorney’s Office; and the Wausau Police Department – Victim Resource Unit, with the assistance of the D.C. Everest Area School District. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Altman and Chadwick Elgersma and State of Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General David Maas.