Merrill man arrested on child pornography charges

A Town of Merrill man was arrested Wednesday on 10 counts of possession of child pornography following a search warrant executed at his residence.
Patrick Gryskiewicz, 58, was booked into the Lincoln County Jail on April 1, 2026, after investigators with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau searched his home and found numerous files containing child sexual abuse material.
He appeared in Lincoln County Circuit Court on Monday, April 6, by video without retained counsel, while in custody, with Attorney Bayley Waller by special appearance for this hearing only. Judge Jessica Fehrenbach set a $100,000 cash bond for Gryskiewicz along with the additional conditions of no contact with anyone under the age of 18, no access to or use of the internet, a requirement that he be equipped with a GPS monitor, and surrender of any passport with no replacement permitted, if he is released.
The investigation began after the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force notified the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office of potential criminal activity occurring within the county. Trained ICAC investigators identified a suspect and location, confirmed the files contained child sexual abuse material, and obtained a search warrant.
A press release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office noted, “The tip further stated it appeared that two files of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), commonly referred to as child pornography, were uploaded to an online reverse image search engine. A preliminary investigation was done by the Wisconsin Department of Justice - Division of Criminal Investigation, who identified the internet subscriber associated with the IP address the content was uploaded from.”

The warrant was executed during the morning hours of April 1. “Upon execution of the warrant and subsequent evidentiary analysis, several hundred images and videos of CSAM along with virtual (computer-generated) CSAM were located, depicting children as young as toddler-aged being sexually assaulted,” the release said.
The sheriff’s office said there is no information to suggest Gryskiewicz victimized anyone within the community.
Gryskiewicz remains in custody in the Lincoln County Jail.
“This case remains under active investigation, and while defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office wants the community to know that this behavior will not be tolerated and we will remain steadfast in our mission to safeguard the innocence of our children,” the press release concluded.