Attorney General Griffin Announces Conviction in Abuse Case

Griffin: ‘I … will use all the resources of my office to prosecute those who would exploit the vulnerable under their care’

LITTLE ROCK – Following a guilty plea entered by Early Knox, 33, of Jonesboro in Craighead County Circuit Court on January 22, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“Earlier this week, defendant Knox pleaded guilty to Abuse/Exploitation of an Endangered/Impaired Person, a class D felony. I take the protection of Arkansans seriously and will use all the resources of my office to prosecute those who would exploit the vulnerable under their care.

“I am proud of the work done by my office’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in this case, particularly investigator Dane Pederson and Assistant Attorney General Gabby Davis-Jones, who worked with Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Sonia Fonticiella to secure this conviction.”

Knox worked as a caregiver at the Jonesboro Human Development Center. He pleaded guilty to pushing a center resident then forcibly holding him down. The incident was captured on video with the victim heard saying “I can’t breathe.” The victim suffered bruises to their neck, shoulders and back.

Knox was sentenced to three years of probation and a $350 fine. He must also attend anger management classes.

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.

Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.

He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née Bragg), North Carolina, and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin attends Immanuel Baptist Church and lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

###

To download a PDF version of this release, click here.