Updated at 6:40 p.m., Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Conviction in Hawaii's first online-enticement trial
Advertiser Staff
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Robert John McKnight Jr. faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a minimum sentence of five years on probation with a one-year prison term as a condition of probation under a new sentencing law passed in July 2006.
McKnight, also known as "atropical knight" online, must register as a sex offender.
Circuit Judge Joel E. August will sentence McKnight Nov. 14. Bail remains at $20,000 pending sentencing.
McKnight was arrested July 6, 2006, when he showed up at a Maui airport to pick up a 15-year-old girl for sex. The arrangement was set up in an online chat room between June 13 and July 5, 2006, with Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force agents posing as a teenager from O'ahu.
"We're very pleased with this conviction," state Attorney General Mark Bennett said in a news release. "...This prosecution exemplifies we are committed to vigorously prosecuting those individuals who prey on our children."
