Knight turns himself in

Local News

December 29, 2009

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Sam Knight, the one-time Princeville town manager, turned himself over to Edgecombe County Sheriff's deputies Monday afternoon.

Edgecombe County Sheriff James Knight said that Sam Knight called his office at 2:30 p.m. to turn himself in. Sam Knight was taken into custody at his residence on U.S. 64 near Tarboro without incident, the sheriff added.

Knight, 61, had 90 days following his Sept. 21 sentencing to pay $25,292.87 in restitution to Princeville as ordered by Superior Court Judge Cy Grant.

He was also ordered to wear an electronic tracking bracelet, during which he remained under house arrest save for a court-allowed trip to Fort Riley, Kan.

Knight now faces up to 16 months in jail for violating the court order.

When he was indicted in April 2008, it was said that Knight generated 13 invoices from a fictitious Williams Surveying Co., for billing amounts to Princeville from $1,260 to $3,489.

Those payments were made in a co-defendant's name, 32-year-old Mark Richardson of Rocky Mount.

Knight was sentenced to 30 months probation, with a suspended sentence of up to 16 months in prison if he violates his orders.

Knight is being held in the Edgecombe County Detention Center under a $125,000 bond.

Knight retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of sergeant major after 27 years of service in 1995. He was Princeville's town manager from August 2003 until Aug. 20, when he abruptly resigned.