Accused sex offender pleads to lesser charge

As part of his agreement with the Sauk County District Attorney’s Office, 58-year-old Kevin P. Knight must spend the next five years on probation and follow the recommendations of a doctor who conducted a sex offender examination on him.

“If I have caused any harm to anybody, you know, I’m sorry that I’ve done this,” Knight said during a plea and sentencing hearing Tuesday in Sauk County Circuit Court.

In 2012, a teenage girl told a Baraboo police officer Knight touched her inappropriately on 20 occasions while she attended a daycare that was based in his home in 2002. According to prosecutors, the girl said she came forward after seeing a picture of Knight with a child she knew through family.

The girl would have been roughly 6 years old at the time of the offense.

Terms of Knight’s agreement with prosecutors state that he may not have contact with the alleged victim or any children under 18 without prior approval from his probation officer. An exception was granted for a child who lives with Knight.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the initial charge of repeated sexual assault of a child and allowed Knight to plead no contest to a lesser charge of causing mental harm to a child.

That charge carries a maximum penalty of $25,000 in fines and 12 ½ years in prison. Sentencing was withheld while Knight completes terms of the agreement.

The terms of the agreement were jointly recommended by both the prosecution and defense. The alleged victim did not attend or speak at the sentencing hearing, nor did anyone from her family.

“I trust that the state and defendant have thoroughly reviewed this matter and that the interest of justice will be served if the joint recommendation is followed,” Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Guy Reynolds said.

He said although the alleged offense was serious and unacceptable, the allegations stem from incidents that occurred more than a decade ago, and that Knight has had few brushes with the law.

Reynolds said he believed the public would be protected if he accepted the terms of the agreement that was reached by Knight’s attorney and state prosecutors.

Knight’s attorney, David Geier of Madison, said a doctor that evaluated his client determined that he was a low risk to re-offend. He said the evaluation determined that Knight would benefit from treatment while on probation, but that he does not fit the profile of a pedophile.

The 2002 incidents occurred at a Quarry Street home daycare that was run by Knight’s then-wife, Kathy Knight. By the time charges were field in 2013, Knight had remarried to Kimberly Knight, who then operated a daycare out of the same home.

One week after charges were filed, inspectors with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families visited Kimberly’s Kids Daycare and demanded that it cease operations that would require a license.

Inspectors said Kimberly Knight was caring for five children under the age of 7 that were not related to her. Kimberly Knight said she typically cared for no more than three children, and therefore did not require a state license.

She said the day that inspectors arrived at the daycare to find five children was an unusual circumstance.

It’s unclear whether the daycare still is in operation. Kimberly Knight declined to comment at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing.

Kimberly’s Kids is not licensed by DHS, according to an online database. However, the daycare’s Facebook page was active as recently as August.