CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (News First) – A former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper was indicted this week, accused of unlawfully searching women’s cell phones during traffic stops to find nude pictures. 39-year-old David McKnight was indicted by a grand jury in federal court in Cape Girardeau. He faces one count of destroying records in a federal investigation and nine counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, namely the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. The indictment says between September 1st of 2023 and August 19th of this year, McKnight took cell phones from nine different women. McKnight then searched the phones and used his personal cell phone to photograph nude pictures that he found according to the indictment.
McKnight later deleted the images. McKnight stopped most of the women for traffic violations the indictment says. He took the women’s phones under the auspices of confirming that they had insurance coverage or verifying their identification. U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming says “these allegations are being taken very seriously and we’d like to encourage anyone who believes they had a concerning interaction with Trooper McKnight to contact the FBI.” Anyone with information is asked to contact the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or you can go to tips.fbi.gov.
