NOBLE COUNTY — Gregory Alan Riegsecker, 57, Ligonier, has pled guilty to two of the six charges against him. The charges he has pled guilty to are possession of child pornography and child exploitation, both level 5 felonies.
Gregory Alan Riegsecker
On Aug. 7, 2024, he was charged with possession of child pornography with aggravating actors, a level 5 felony; and two counts of possession of child pornography, level 6 felonies dating back to December 2023. The state then filed charges on Nov. 1, 2024 of two counts of child exploitation, level 5 felonies and dissemination of matter harmful to minors, dating back to March, 2021.
The plea agreement, which covers both cases, was heard in Noble County Circuit Court Monday, June 2. If accepted, the plea agreement calls for an imposed executed sentence not to exceed three years at the Indiana Department of Corrections. Each sentence will run concurrently. Riegsecker will be required to register as a sex offender. Per the plea agreement, all other charges will be dropped.
He will also not be eligible for community corrections or any other alternative to incarceration.
Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 29.
Indiana State Police was notified around Jan. 8, 2024, of a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who had processed a tip on Dec. 29, 2023. The tip was apparent child pornography reported by Instagram Inc. The electronic service provider reported eight total files, three of which were child sexual abuse material that were sent in Instagram Direct and three additional files appearing to minors, but the ages were difficult to identify.
Instagram Inc. reported the incident occurred Dec. 26, 2023 and provided information for the sender and recipient accounts. The sender account had the name “Matt” listed and the age of 17. There were two email addresses, one of which was Riegsecker’s Hotmail account.
The investigating detective reviewed the images and verified there was child sexual abuse material present. Included in the images were an eight second and two nine second videos, depicting various nudity and sexual acts being performed by the minors or involving the minors. Several of the images involved children between the ages of 5-13.
The senders account was geolocated to Fort Myers, Fla., and the recipients IP address came back to the Ligonier area, to Education Networks of America. The cyber tip was transferred from the South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children unit and included the two emails Riegsecker was using, his date of birth and address. Additionally, the information included the fact he was a sixth grade teacher at West Noble Middle School, Ligonier. The investigating detective verified he was a teacher at the school on Jan. 11 and the IP address on the account belonged to the school.
Following an execution of a search warrant for the sender and recipient Instagram accounts, police found messages between Riegsecker and a “Bia” and instances where the suspect account holder sent money to various accounts, but the reason or purpose was unknown.
A search warrant was executed on Aug. 5, 2025 at Riegsecker’s home where two cellular phones were seized. He agreed to talk to police and after being read his Miranda rights, admitted the sender and recipient Instagram accounts belonged to him and that he made both accounts. He further admitted to sending the child pornography from one account to the other in order to save the content for later. Of the two Android phones, he kept one hidden. That phone contained screenshots of nude females and he knew at least one of the females in the screenshots was a minor. He also admitted to chatting with females he knew were underage.
Based on what police learned, it was believed Riegsecker knowingly possessed or accessed an image that depicted or described sexual conduct by a child who the person knew to be less than 18 and specifically less than 12 years of age.
Indiana State Police began a second investigation in August 2024 when digital forensics was performed on four cell phones belonging to Riegsecker. The forensics examination uncovered over 2,600 child sexual abuse materials between the four devices.
Many of the materials discovered were photographs of the same female. There were also hundreds of split screen images showing Riegsecker and the juvenile female in various sexually explicit scenes, During the review of the screen images, police discovered a photo of an elementary school diploma from New York, dated 2017. It also showed the child’s name. Contact was made with the Department of Homeland Security and a New York police department where the child victim was located. The victim was interviewed on Sept. 23, 2024, by New York officials.
Based on the interview of the child victim, it was learned she was born in 2006 and she met Riegsecker, who used the name “Matt” on Instagram, when she was 14. She told him she was 14 or 15 and he told her he was 17 or 18 and lived in Indiana. The victim told authorities they communicated for approximately one year and during that time he requested nude images of her and he sent her images of private parts. She could not remember if she sent images to him.
The victim also said they would Facetime and he would be at school, after school hours, claiming his mother was a teacher and he was there helping her. He would talk to her about school and help her with homework.
The earliest communication between the two, authorities were able to uncover, occurred March 6, 2021, but it is believed based on the content the two had connected prior to that date.
Court documents on the second case, note from the investigation of the August 2024 case, many of the conversations appear to have taken place at the school after hours, as a school classroom is visible in the background.
Following Riegsecker’s arrest, West Noble School Corporation place him on administrative leave. He is not allowed on any school property, nor interaction with any school corporation students.
