Florida Man Sentenced for Production of Child Pornography

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Jacksonville, Fl., man, Josh Lee Knittel, 44, was sentenced on October 20 by U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves to 420 months in prison, for the production of child pornography.  

According to his plea agreement, in 2006, Knittel was convicted of a sex offense involving a minor and is a registered sex offender. On July 29, 2024, a person known to the victim found inappropriate text messages between the victim and Knittel on a cell phone. The messages indicated that Knittel was paying the victim for nude pictures. A search of financial accounts and messages confirmed the exchange and on October 16, 2024, law enforcement arrested Knittel. Knittel admitted to paying for sexually explicit images of the victim. 

Under federal law, Knittel must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life. 

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Olivia Olson, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, and Chief Tony Gray, Jr., Danville Police Department, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Danville Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Melton is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. 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.

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