David Lee Knowles, 56, of Nevada, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Knowles to forfeit to the government an iPad2, a desktop computer, an iPhone and an external hard drive, all of which were used to commit the offense.

Knowles, a registered sex offender as a result of his 1997 conviction for sexual assault, pleaded guilty on April 1, 2014. Knowles admitted that he received and distributed child *********** between May 31, 2012, and Jan. 3, 2013.

A law enforcement officer was conducting an undercover investigation into the distribution of child *********** with peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks. Knowles’s computer was identified as sharing videos of child *********** over the Internet.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI and the Joplin, Mo., Police Department.