- April 24, 2024
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At a hearing Jan. 10, Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano sentenced 48-year-old Bert K. Knight to 25 years in prison to be followed by a total of 100 years of sex offender probation. Zambrano also forbade Knight to have any contact with anyone under 18 or use computers. Knight was ordered to register as a sex offender and provide a DNA sample.
The Flagler Beach resident pled no contest Nov. 17 to 25 counts of possession of sexual performance of a child, a third degree felony.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant State Attorneys Ben Fox and Kelly Wark. Fox said: “It is unlikely that any defendant at age 48 will be supervised for 100 years of sex offender probation and after serving 25 years in prison, but one can say that the sentence sends a clear message.”
According to the arrest report, the images found on Knight’s computer involved children as young as 9 months old, and many children 2 to 6.
All the images and two separate videos involve prepubescent boys or girls, no older than 11, in various sexual acts with adults. One appalling photograph clearly involved an infant approximately 9 months old. As described in the police report, in virtually every case, the acts themselves would be considered outright cases of child rape.
As Fox argued: “Even though there was no direct evidence that the defendant himself ever raped any children, the defendant’s continuing access to the videos and photographs perpetuated the abuse initiated by the producers of the materials and helps provide further economic incentive for creating and distributing such materials.”
