SIOUX CITY – This Iowa deviant who downloaded and shared illicit child photos via a text messaging app was ratted out by the software provider to cops, who tracked him to his lair and laid some salty justice upon his red-headed noggin.
Gregory William Douglas McCormick, 23, from Mapleton, Iowa, was sentenced May 20, 2025, to 5 years in federal prison. McCormick received the prison term after a January 6, 2025, guilty plea to possession of child pornography.
Evidence in the case showed that between May 1, 2022, and February 23, 2023, McCormick received, distributed, and possessed child pornography. In 2022, the internet messaging application Kik became aware one of its users uploaded approximately seven files that depicted child pornography. Kik reported the account to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and a CyberTip report was assigned to the Iowa Internet Crimes Against Child Task Force. Law enforcement tracked the account back to McCormick. Law enforcement executed a search warrant at McCormick’s residence and during an interview with law enforcement he confirmed he was the individual responsible for the receipt and distribution of child pornography connected to the CyberTip. McCormick admitted there would be child pornography on his current cell phone as well as two older cell phones. A forensic search of McCormick’s cell phones and Kik account showed he possessed a total of 120 images and 7 videos of child pornography. The videos and images included infants and toddlers as well as sadistic and masochistic conduct.
McCormick was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. McCormick was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment. He was ordered to make $10,100 in restitution and assessments. He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. McCormick is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
The case was investigated by Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Cyber Crime Bureau and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.