North Little Rock, Arkansas – A violent offender already serving a life sentence for murder has now been sentenced to 20 additional years in federal prison for attempting to orchestrate the kidnapping of a retired law enforcement officer’s family member. The sentence will run consecutively to his current life term.
Houston Gregory, 49, of North Little Rock, received the new sentence from United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr., following a plea of no contest to attempted kidnapping. The announcement was made by Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Gregory, who is already imprisoned in Florida for a life sentence without parole tied to convictions for capital murder, aggravated robbery, and theft, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 5, 2023. His criminal history also includes a conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver, and he had previously helped plan an escape attempt with other inmates at the Arkansas Department of Correction.
The new charges stem from an incident uncovered in November 2022, when law enforcement discovered that Gregory was trying to arrange the kidnapping of a family member of a retired detective. That detective had played a role in Gregory’s original murder conviction in Arkansas. According to investigators, Gregory’s objective was to force the detective into recanting prior testimony by leveraging the safety of their loved one.
From inside a Florida prison, Gregory used a contraband cell phone and tablet to communicate with an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) who he believed would help carry out the plan. Over several weeks spanning December 2022 to January 2023, Gregory laid out the disturbing details of his proposal. He “solicited the assistance of the UC in the kidnapping of the detective’s family member with the proposed plan to hold the family member hostage until the detective provided a false affidavit stating that the detective lied in his testimony against Gregory.”
He further directed the UC to be ready to detain the target for up to 30 days and provided personal information about the intended victim. Gregory even offered financial compensation for the UC’s help. On January 6, 2023, he sent a photo of a handwritten note outlining his demands and threats, which the UC was to deliver to the retired detective. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) led the investigation in this case.
