LITTLE ROCK Houston Gregory, a convicted murderer with a violent criminal history, was sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment to run consecutive for his role in the attempted kidnapping of a retired law enforcement officer’s family member. Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, announced the sentence, which was handed down today by United States District Judge James M. Moody, Jr.
A federal grand jury indicted Gregory, 49, who is from North Little Rock but currently imprisoned and serving a sentence of life imprisonment for murder in Florida, in a one count indictment on April 5, 2023. Gregory was charged with attempted kidnapping. On January 28, 2025, Gregory pled no contest to the charge in the indictment.
In November 2022, law enforcement learned that Gregory was attempting to solicit the kidnapping of the family member of a retired detective who assisted in Gregory’s prosecution and conviction for capital murder, aggravated robbery, and theft in Arkansas. Gregory is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for those convictions and has a prior conviction for possession of cocaine with intent to deliver. He is serving his life sentence in Florida after he helped fellow Arkansas Department of Correction inmates plan an escape.
Throughout December 2022 and early January 2023, Gregory communicated with an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) via contraband cell phone and/or tablet from a Florida prison. Gregory 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. Gregory instructed the UC to be prepared to hold the family member hostage for up to 30 days. Gregory provided personal information about the family member to the UC and offered the UC money for the UC’s participation. On January 6, 2023, Gregory sent the UC a photo of a piece of paper with Gregory’s demands and threats written on it, which were to be conveyed to the retired detective.
In addition to the twenty-year federal sentence, Judge Moody also sentenced defendant to three years’ supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.
This case was investigated by the ATF.
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