KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE MONDAY, AUG. 26: A former Knoxville police officer who admitted plotting to exploit a young child for his sexual gratification faces sentencing in January.
Dan Roark, 48, formally pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville before U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer. The judge set Jan. 23 for sentencing.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to exploit a child and receiving child porn. He pushed the child's Virginia mother to take and send graphic images of her, authorities say.
Government prosecutors and defense attorneys agree Roark should face a range of about 22 years to 30 years in prison for his crimes. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Knoxville has agreed to cap its request at 25 years, records state.
The mother is being prosecuted separately in Scott County, Va. Authorities were unavailable Monday to discuss the status of the case.
Roark is in custody. He appeared in chains for Monday's hearing.
He signed a plea agreement earlier this summer in the case. In exchange for the guilty plea, the government is dropping two counts against him -- child porn possession and sexual exploitation of a child.
The Knoxville Police Department fired him in November as details about the case began to emerge.
Attorneys Gregory P. Isaacs and Ashlee Mathis represent him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman is handling the case for the government.
Probation authorities will perform a pre-sentence investigation to help Crytzer as she evaluates what sentence to impose.
PREVIOUS STORY: A former Knoxville police officer has agreed to plead guilty to demanding a female acquaintance take and text him nude images of her underage child, records show.
Dan Roark signed and submitted a plea agreement to U.S. District Court in Knoxville that calls for him to plead guilty to conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and receipt of child pornography.
Roark, who is being held in the Blount County Jail, signed the document Friday along with defense attorney Gregory P. Isaacs and federal prosecutor Jennifer Kolman.
He'll have to serve at least 15 years for the offenses. The conspiracy count calls for a prison term of 15 to 30 years; the child porn count calls for 5 to 20 years.
U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer will impose sentence.
In exchange for the plea agreement, the United States will drop two other counts against him.
Roark knew the child's mother for many years. She lived in Scott County, Va.
According to court records, from 2019 through October 2023, he "conspired" with her to get sexually explicit videos and images of the girl's genitals.
An affidavit written by a Department of Homeland Security special agent said Roark asked the woman to take pictures of her daughter as early as when the child was 5 or 6 years old.
In plea agreement documents, the government submitted a string of text exchanges between the two in August 2023.
As the mother sent him photos, Roark replied at one point, "U can do better than that."
Scott County, Va., law enforcement heard about the case after getting an anonymous tip in October that an underage child was sending child sexual abuse material through the internet "to other potential users," the plea agreement stipulation states.
An investigator contacted the girl's mother, who agreed to an exam of a phone her child used that had formerly belonged to her.
A forensic exam revealed the nude photos and texting between Roark and the mom, records state.
Roark had been scheduled for trial in August in federal court in Knoxville.
The Knoxville Police Department fired him in November.