A Villager was arrested after the discovery of a secret camera that was set up to capture video images of his naked grandchildren.
Agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement armed with a search warrant arrived at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the home of 73-year-old Earl Vincent Knight Jr. at 548 St. Andrews Blvd. on the Historic Side of The Villages. He provided passwords for his phone, iPad and desktop computer and admitted he looked at pornography on his computer using Periscope, according to an arrest report. When an agent began asking about videos recorded inside the home Knight has occupied for five years with his wife, he asked for a lawyer and stopped cooperating.
Knight’s wife told investigators she was aware of surveillance cameras set up inside and outside their home, but had no idea there was a hidden camera that “would have captured anyone undressing in private,” the report said. When she was shown three of the images, Knight’s wife began crying. They were identified as her grandchildren.
FDLE extracted multiple images of a 16-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl who were apparently undressing in the home of the couple, who have been married for more than 40 years. The girls’ “bare buttocks and breasts can be seen in the video,” the report said. The camera had been set up in the guest bedroom of the home.
“During the search warrant, a computer was located in the guest bedroom with a Logitech video camera attached to it. The Logitech camera was in the same position and same angle as the camera that was used to take the videos,” the FDLE agent noted in the arrest report.
The search warrant turned up other child pornography on Knight’s digital devices, including a 6-year-old female performing oral sex on an adult male. The report indicated the children in those images were not Knight’s relatives.
The Massachusetts native was arrested on eight counts of video voyeurism and five counts of possession of child pornography. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $26,000 bond. He was released at 6:24 p.m. Wednesday.
