Waukesha Co. correctional officer charged with possession of child porn, suspended without pay

WAUKESHA (WITI) -- Waukesha County Sheriff's officials say a correctional officer has been arrested -- accused of possessing child pornography. He was officially charged on Monday, September 29th.

On Friday, September 26th, the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department served a search warrant at a residence in the Town of Lisbon.

Keith Knutsen



There, Sheriff's officials say 46-year-old Keith Knutsen was arrested on three felony counts of possession of child pornography and one felony count of exploitation of a child.

A criminal complaint filed against Knutsen charges him with three felonies: one count of sexual exploitation of a child, and two counts of possession of child pornography.

Knutsen has worked as a correctional officer in Waukesha County for the last six years.

He has been suspended without pay.

The complaint says on August 20th, a detective was conducting an investigation into the online sharing of child pornography through peer-to-peer file sharing networks when that detective identified an IP address that was sharing a file that was believed to be child pornography. The file was downloaded, and it was determined to be child pornography. The complaint says the IP address was found to be registered to Sandra Knutsen, of the Town of Lisbon.

The complaint says on August 21st, a detective was again conducting an investigation into the online sharing of child pornography through peer-to-peer file sharing networks when the detective identified an IP address believed to be sharing child pornography. Two files being shared were downloaded, and it was determined to be child pornography. The complaint says the IP address was found to be registered to Sandra Knutsen, of the Town of Lisbon.

A search warrant for that Town of Lisbon residence was obtained on September 25th -- and executed on September 26th.

As that search warrant was being executed, the complaint says a laptop was discovered in the home's basement. That laptop had a sticker on it, indicating it is fingerprint encrypted -- meaning it would not work without the owner's fingerprints. The complaint says child porn was discovered on that laptop.

Knutsen has a court appearance scheduled for October 7th.