Palmer man faces 15 years for child porn

July 24, 2007

By Hannah Guillaume/Frontiersman

PALMER - A 49-year-old Palmer man has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and production of child pornography and is scheduled for sentencing in Palmer court today.

Steven Knights will receive his state sentence for transporting sexually explicit photographs of himself with a 14-year-old girl he'd taken from Alaska to Oklahoma during 2003 and 2004, according to reports released yesterday.

&#8220I think it's a good sentence for the community, because it punishes him severely for his crimes and he will be under supervision until he is almost 80 years old,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Audrey J. Renschen said.

Knights received a federal-mandatory 15-year prison sentence followed by an 11-year period of supervised release in Anchorage. Renschen said four of those years will be served concurrently with the state sentence.

&#8220That was part of the agreement,” she added.

Knights admitted to knowing the girl's age and transporting the digital pictures back to Alaska, where he stored the images on his computer and other media, according to reports.

Knights did not have a criminal history prior to these charges.

Contact Hannah Guillaume at 352-2284 or hannahguillaume@yahoo.com.