Tampa man charged with sexually assaulting Lee County teen

Author: Stanley B. Chambers Jr.
Published: Updated:

TAMPA, Fla. – A 40-year-old convicted sexual offender was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a Lee County teenager.

John Christopher Knight, of 1518 3rd Avenue East in Tampa, is charged with two counts of sexual battery. He remained in the Hillsborough County jail Thursday under a $200,000 bond.

Knight is accused of assaulting the teenager after she and two friends traveled to Tampa for an event on Aug. 15, Tampa police said. Knight approached the teenagers, befriended them and invited them back to his home, investigators said.

“While at his home, the suspect provided the victims drinks and the victims could not remember what happened after consuming the drinks,” the department said in a statement. “One of the victims woke up and she was not clothed. Another victim vaguely remembered the suspect trying to remove her pants.”

After returning to Lee County, one of the victims was taken to a hospital, where a rape kit found benzodiazepine – a date rape drug – in her blood, police said.

Investigators are awaiting test results from the other teenagers to determine additional charges.

Knight is also charged with a similar incident on July 26 where the 24-year-old victim also had the date rape drug in her system, police said.

Knight was convicted in 2005 for lewd or lascivious conduct in Sarasota.  He was released from prison in April.

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