September 23, 2014

Nevada Sex Offender Sentenced to 15 Years on Child Pornography Charges

SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Nevada, Mo., man who is a registered sex offender was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

David Lee Knowles, 56, of Nevada, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Knowles to forfeit to the government an iPad2, a desktop computer, an iPhone and an external hard drive, all of which were used to commit the offense.

Knowles, a registered sex offender as a result of his 1997 conviction for sexual assault, pleaded guilty on April 1, 2014. Knowles admitted that he received and distributed child pornography between May 31, 2012, and Jan. 3, 2013.

A law enforcement officer was conducting an undercover investigation into the distribution of child pornography with peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks. Knowles’s computer was identified as sharing videos of child pornography over the Internet.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

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. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”