A St. Louis County man, having only recently been released from custody for a previous child pornography charge, confessed to once again being caught with illicit material. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, 45-year-old John V. Knowles IV pleaded guilty on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of possession of child pornography.
The admission made clear that Knowles had downloaded child sexual abuse material following the initial police search of his home and seizure of his computer equipment in his 2018 case, but prior to his indictment. Post his release into home confinement from a halfway house on September 1, 2023, a mere 11 days later, probation officers found prohibited electronic devices in his possession during a visit—among these were iPads, iPhones, and laptops. The subsequent court-approved search of these electronics unearthed the child sexual abuse material outlined in Knowles' plea agreement.
Scheduled for sentencing on January 30, 2025, Knowles faces a stinging possibility of up to 20 years in prison, along with a $250,000 fine or a combined sentence of both if convicted for the possession of child pornography. The multi-agency investigation involved the FBI, U.S. Probation Office, and the St. Louis County Police Department with Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen Lang leading the prosecution.
This case is a part of Project Safe Childhood, an ongoing national initiative counteracting the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, the initiative poises U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section at the helm, directing federal, state, and local efforts to snare individuals who exploit children via the internet and to work on the identification and rescue of victims.
