The suspended White Pass School District superintendent arrested on suspicion of having sexually explicit images of children first came under police radar in April, according to recently released court records.
Greggery Ray Teel, 52, admitted to police that such files in question were his, but didn't know they included children, according to the police report that led to his Tuesday arrest near his Kelso home.
Teel's wife — the principal of St. Helens Elementary School in Longview — filed on Tuesday a protection order against him, stating she learned of his suspected crimes that day and does not want him to have access to their home or children.
His wife is not part of the police investigation.
Teel worked at the public school district, which is located in Randle and covers Randle, Packwood and Glenoma. A district message on the day of his arrest said he is suspended and barred from campus.
Teel's bail was set at $100,000 Wednesday and he was still in Cowlitz County Jail as of Friday afternoon.
Teel was the Toutle Lake School District elementary principal from 2022 to 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Teel's LinkedIn profile also lists past employment at Napavine School District from 2013 to 2015 and Centralia School District from 2015 to 2020.
The police report that led to his arrest says he also worked in Aberdeen schools, but does not list dates.
The document states authorities received tips regarding three different accounts on an anonymous social media app, created using two different email addresses with different names, but eventually were linked to Teel.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received tips from Kik, a social media app known for its anonymity because users are not required to join with a valid email address.
The report regarding the tip, along with the attached files, were sent to Longview police because the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children had a general understanding that an alleged crime occurred in the area, while the investigation later revealed it was in Kelso, said Longview Police Capt. Branden McNew.
An officer confirmed, using location services, that an IP address registered to Comcast Cable appeared to be located within or near the city limits of Longview.
The files reviewed by investigators included young boys engaged in sexually explicit materials, the report states.
The Kik accounts in question were created with email addresses, the report states, but investigators linked the user's IP address to Teel's Kelso home. The first email address was created using a name, Yahoo reported, but a routine police check for that name returned no results.
According to investigators, a Verizon phone number was used to verify the Yahoo accounts and also appeared in a Comcast cable account tied to the same person and physical address.
During a police interview, an officer called the phone number from one of the tips, and Teel's phone rang.
Teel is suspected of 10 counts of first-degree possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct and 10 other counts of dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
His next hearing in Cowlitz County Superior Court is Jan. 28.
If he makes bail, he must report to offender services, have no contact with children under 18, and is not allowed access to devices that can connect to the internet.
