On Tuesday, a federal judge sentenced former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper David McKnight to 21 months in prison after prosecutors said he seized and searched women's cell phones during traffic stops so he could look for nude photographs. McKnight, 40, admitted taking phones from nine women between September 2023 and July 2024 and using his own phone to photograph images he found, according to court records.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. imposed the 21-month term after McKnight pleaded guilty in December to nine counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. Prosecutors said McKnight took the phones while on duty and in a marked patrol vehicle, and that forensic work later showed he searched folders containing explicit images and deleted some files, which investigators were able to recover.
How Prosecutors Say He Worked
Prosecutors said McKnight usually stopped women for routine traffic issues, then told them he needed to check insurance or registration before walking their phones back to his patrol car and secretly combing through them. In one instance, he searched a phone incident to an arrest. In others, he contacted drivers after accidents or breakdowns. Investigators said he used his own cellphone to photograph images from victims' devices, and KFVS reported that forensic analysis tied deleted images directly to McKnight's phone.
Investigation and Prosecution
Two victims eventually reported his behavior to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which prompted a joint investigation by the MSHP and the FBI. That probe uncovered evidence spanning multiple encounters. In a sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Krug wrote that McKnight's “conduct in this case was inexcusable and demands a sentence of incarceration,” and prosecutors said the forensic findings helped drive the case into federal court, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
A Disturbing Pattern
Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Missouri have been chasing similar cases recently. A former Florissant police officer admitted to searching the phones of 20 women and was sentenced last month in related proceedings. CBS News and other outlets covered that prosecution as part of a broader federal effort to hold officers accountable for civil-rights violations.
What the Law Says
The charges McKnight admitted to fall under the federal civil-rights statute that criminalizes willful deprivation of rights while acting under color of law. The statute, 18 U.S.C. § 242, makes that conduct a federal crime and sets penalties that vary depending on how serious the violation is and what harm it causes.
Victims have also turned to the civil courts. One woman filed a federal lawsuit in November alleging McKnight searched her phone and took photographs of images during a traffic stop in Sikeston. The criminal sentence, along with those civil cases, has renewed calls from legal observers for clearer guidance and department policies on how officers handle phones during traffic stops, according to KFVS.
