HOLYOKE — A former city kindergarten teacher has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Gregory Lisby, 40, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty on Friday in U.S. District Court in Worcester to one count of possession of child pornography. Lisby began working for Holyoke Public Schools in August, where he worked only briefly. He resigned and was arrested in September amid a federal investigation.
In a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts noted that charging statute allows for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
Lisby was arrested after federal law enforcement raided the rectory of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Worcester, where Lisby lived.
According to reporting by The Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, the Rev. Douglas J. Fisher — the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts — revealed in a letter sent to the congregation that the diocese found “devastating credible evidence” that Lisby allegedly sexually abused a teenager “after he was ordained as a priest in 2007.”
Fisher wrote in that letter that Lisby has been banned from contacting congregants without permission and that the diocese was in the process of removing him from the priesthood, according to the Telegram & Gazette. The newspaper also reported that Fisher wrote in his letter that Lisby’s husband, the Rev. Timothy Burger, is “in no way implicated in any of these charges” and has filed for divorce from Lisby.
In court documents, FBI agent Adam Strode said that in December 2018, Microsoft alerted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to a digital file uploaded to its file hosting service. That file contained child pornography, according to an affidavit for a search warrant.
On Aug. 27, Microsoft provided the contents of that account in response to a federal search warrant. Among the contents were about 180 images and 15 videos of children that appeared to be ages 8 to 15 engaged in sex acts, according to Strode.
The account subscriber data that Microsoft provided listed the owner of the account as “Greg Lisby,” the affidavit states. Strode also said that among the account’s data were several Word documents, including what appear to be Lisby’s resume and an introduction letter from Lisby for an online education course.
“If I could teach any grade, I would love to be a kindergarten teacher,” Lisby’s letter reportedly read. “The joy, spontaneity, and openness to learning of younger children is what attracts me to early childhood education. Plus, the energy of the kids, and the energy required of the teacher is exhilarating and tiring.”
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.