KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A Knoxville police officer is out of the job after authorities arrested him and accused him of producing child porn with the victim's mother in Virginia. A grand jury formally handed down four charges against him on Nov. 15, including conspiracy to sexually exploit a child and possession of child pornography.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations arrested Dan Roark last week on a federal complaint for producing child pornography. Roark has been with the Knoxville Police Department since 2007 and last served on patrol in Oct. 2020.
On Nov. 13, KPD announced it had fired Roark after its Office of Professional Standards opened an administrative investigation, calling his alleged actions "shocking and beyond comprehension."
“The Office of Professional Standards conducted an investigation based upon the evidence that was presented in the federal complaint and during his initial appearance and detention hearing in federal court. A pre-disciplinary hearing was held today to review that evidence and the decision was made to terminate his employment, effective immediately," KPD Chief Paul Noel said. "I appreciate OPS for working through our internal, administrative investigation as quickly and thoroughly as possible. We will continue to cooperate fully with the ongoing federal investigation. I extend my deepest sympathies to the child victimized by his actions, who has undoubtedly suffered unimaginable trauma.”
Roark's police powers were suspended after he was taken into federal custody. Noel said KPD was "shocked" to learn of the allegations against him.
"I don't think we've ever had to deal with a case like this," Noel said. "The allegations against him are monstrous and this type of behavior has no place in civilized society on this planet."
Loretta G. Cravens, Criminal Defense Attorney at Eldridge & Blakney, P.C. explained why this case possibly moved fast.
"A criminal complaint is where that probable cause determination, instead of being made by a grand jury made up of citizens, is made by a judge. In this case, a magistrate judge who has taken an affidavit of an investigator and determined that that same probable cause exists and the case has been instituted by criminal complaint," Cravens said. "Usually, you see that when there's some concern about an ongoing harm, and the government doesn't want to delay long enough to convene that grand jury."
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, federal agents began investigating after authorities in Scott County, Virginia received an anonymous tip that a child was sending sex abuse material through the internet to other users.
The investigation led them to the child's mother. Investigators seized her phone, and that's when investigators discovered Roark's number in text message threads.
That led agents to investigate Roark and look at his phone records from July to Oct. 2023. In those records, they said they found several messages of him asking the mother for child sex abuse materials, providing graphic examples of the conversations in the affidavit. Investigators said Raork paid the mother for the images.
"And under the federal code, that offense, if it's a first offense can carry 15 to 30 years, there are a lot of factors that play into what an actual sentence would be," Cravens said.
On Nov. 4, the Scott County Sheriff's Office arrested the mother for producing child pornography and other crimes against children. She told investigators she had known Roark since 2007 after the two began communicating on Yahoo. At some point, she admitted Roark had asked for sex abuse pictures of her now 10-year-old child.
KPD Chief Paul Noel called the allegations against Roark "deeply disturbing and abhorrent."
"His alleged actions shock the conscience and, if proven true, demonstrate monstrous behavior against a truly innocent victim. I am sickened by these accusations, which in and of themselves have brought immeasurable discredit on our agency and the entire law enforcement profession.
“We have and will continue to cooperate fully with federal investigators. We will also act with great urgency to resolve this matter and repair the damage done to public trust in the wake of these disturbing allegations.
"It's another difficult case, no one wants to hear these kinds of allegations. And no one particularly wants to hear these kinds of allegations levied at someone who is supposed to have the community stressed, and serve in a role to protect the very kind of people who may have been victimized," Cravens said.
Before his arrest, Roark was named "Officer of the Month" for Dec. 2019 for donating money from his pocket to help a family buy presents for Christmas.
Roark also made the news recently for his involvement in a discrimination complaint against an updated KPD policy that was recently withdrawn.
"Ultimately, he would be entitled to all those constitutional rights, the right to present a defense, the right to proceed with his case and defend it through a trial and the right to have a jury of 12 of his peers determine whether or not he's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt," Cravens said. "Until a jury says that, or a guilty plea is entered as he sits here right now, he is an innocent man."