New York sex offender moves to South Mississippi after corresponding with local girl

GULFPORT -- A convicted sex offender moved to South Mississippi from New York after he started corresponding with a girl over the Internet.

Kelly Anthony McKnight, 40, of Pringle Circle in Biloxi, mostly lived in motels after his move two months ago, but he also stayed with the girl at motels on some nights, court papers say.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert H. Walker has ordered McKnight held without bond pending prosecution on a federal charge of failure to register as a sex offender in Harrison County.

Harrison County authorities arrested McKnight in February after he showed up to register his home address and authorities learned he was wanted in New York for failure to register there. He had registered a Rochester, N.Y., address, but hadn't kept his information current.

In his order denying McKnight bond in the federal case, the judge noted McKnight claimed he hadn't used marijuana in a year, but then tested positive for the drug prior to the hearing. In addition, McKnight had previous convictions for two counts of possession of marijuana and one count each of aggravated harassment and second-degree rape of a child. He was 26 when he raped a 14-year-old girl in New York. The New York sex offender registry shows he was convicted of the charge in 2001.

McKnight served three years of a five-year sentence for rape before he was paroled. He later violated his parole and ordered to serve the remainder of his rape sentence.

McKnight is scheduled to go to trial on the court calender beginning April 4.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Jones is prosecuting the case.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 4:00 PM with the headline "New York sex offender moves to South Mississippi after corresponding with local girl ."