HAMMOND MAN SENTENCED TO 46 MONTHS FOR GUN VIOLATION AND FAILURE TO REGISTER AS SEX OFFENDER
ANTHONY D. KNIGHT, age 34, a resident of Hammond, Louisiana, was sentenced today in federal court by U. S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to forty-six (46) months imprisonment for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and failure to register as a sex offender, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
According to court documents, on March 9, 2010, while executing an arrest warrant of the defendant at his Hammond residence, U. S. Marshals located a 9mm pistol. KNIGHT was convicted on September 19, 1996 for felony Sexual Abuse First Degree in Mobile, Alabama and was required to register as a sex offender. As such, KNIGHT was prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm. Further, KNIGHT failed to register as per the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This matter matter was investigated by the United States Marshals, the Hammond Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, and was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Edward J. Rivera and Brian M. Klebba.
