Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A Howell man was arrested this week in connection with a child pornography case.

Greg Francis Gaither is accused of coercing minors to create child pornography and share it with a man in Pennsylvania.

The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Flint states that he received and distributed child pornography and possessed child pornography for a period of time from June 25th, 2022 to March 2nd.

Last December, the FBI executed a search warrant at a home in Pennsylvania where a person identified in documents as “Individual A” resided.

The complaint states he voluntarily provided information about his use of a variety of smart phone applications to coerce and entice minor females to engage in sexual activity in order to produce child pornography - which he would distribute and exchange with others.

Phone records showed that the individual and Gaither were in communication almost every day via text and voice calls. Some chat conversations dated back to July of 2021. The complaint states both consistently talked about their work for Door Dash and their attempts to get minor females to produce child pornography. Images and videos distributed between the two were of minor females, approximately 10 to 13 years old.

A search warrant was served Gaither’s Howell home on Thursday morning. As the FBI approached, the lights in the home were turned off. Agents made entry and one spent more than five minutes to trying to get Gaither out of the house but he wouldn’t come out, show himself or speak.

The agent also repeatedly called Gaither at the same telephone number that was observed to have received and distributed child pornography. He eventually showed himself and was taken into custody. The complaint states the phone the agent had been calling was found with Gaither and appeared to have been factory reset.

Gaither is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing Monday afternoon at the Bay City Courthouse.