Rhode Island wants to extradite a 74-year-old Villager to face a child molestation charge.
Earl Vincent Knight Jr., who lives on the Historic Side of The Villages, continues to be held at the Lake County Jail following his Oct. 21 arrest at his home on the Bristol County, R.I. warrant charging him with second degree child molestation/sexual assault. Details of the alleged crime have been sealed.
Knight was asked to sign the waiver of extradition to Rhode Island, but refused to do so, according to a document on file in Lake County Court. He indicated he would need to speak with an attorney before signing it. Knight continues to be held without bond.
Knight had been free on $26,000 bond following his arrest last year by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents at his home at 548 St. Andrews Blvd. When agents arrived at his home on the day of his arrest, Knight 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 more than five years with his wife, he asked for a lawyer and stopped cooperating.
FDLE agents extracted multiple images of a 16-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl who were apparently undressing in the home of Knight and his wife, who have been married for more than 40 years. The girls’ “bare buttocks and breasts can be seen in the video,” the report said.
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 granddaughters.
Knight is facing eight counts of video voyeurism and five counts of possession of child pornography as a result of the 2020 arrest.