Carter Lake Man Sentenced for Drug and Child Pornography Charges

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - United States Attorney Marc Krickbaum announced onMarch 5, 2020, Gregory Herbert Markham, age 52, of Carter Lake, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger after pleading guilty to Transportation with Intent to Engage in Sexual Activity, Distribution of Marijuana and Cocaine to a Person Under the Age of Twenty-One, and Distribution of Child Pornography. Markham was sentenced to 151 months in prison for the transportation and child pornography charge and 120 months in prison for the drug charge; all sentences are to run concurrently. Markham’s term of imprisonment is to be followed by supervised release for seven years. Markham was ordered to pay $1,500 in restitution.

This investigation began in March 2019, when a Douglas County (Nebraska) Sheriff’s Department Deputy encountered a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of the Travel Inn. The driver was subsequently arrested and the two females involved in this matter were left at the motel. One of the females contacted the Defendant Markham for a ride. Markham picked up the two females, ages seventeen and eighteen from the Omaha motel and drove them to his home. Markham had previously transported one of the females from Omaha across the state line to his home for prostitution. Markham allowed the females to stay at his home and set up prostitution dates for sex. He also provided them with cocaine and marijuana. Markham took pictures of the seventeen year old on his cell phone and distributed the child pornography to a friend.

This case was investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, Omaha FBI Child Exploitation Task Force, Carter Lake Police Department, Council Bluffs Police Department, and Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.