Mark Knight was booked into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center a day before the deadline for him report to jail.
Knight, who is the former head of Knight Oil Tools, pleaded no contest last year to corrupt influencing and public bribery. In exchange, the District Attorney’s office dropped racketeering charges and agreed not to prosecute Knight on other alleged crimes.
Knight was sentenced to one year in the parish jail for bribery.Read more on that sentencing.
However, Knight is not in jail. Since he was not convicted of a crime of violence, he qualified for the Sheriff’s Alternative Sentencing Program.
Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. John Mowell said Knight met the criteria for the program, which allows non-violent offenders reside at home, as long as they report to the Community Corrections Campus and adhere to the itinerary set for them by the program.
Among the requirements are that Knight wear an ankle monitor, take weekly drug screens and meet at least once a week with a case manager, Mowell said.
The program has been in place for some time, and open to all eligible offenders, Mowell said.
According to the factual basis of the plea as read in court, Knight stands convicted of orchestrating and paying for a scheme to plant tracking devices and drugs on his brother’s vehicle, then conspiring with law enforcement to have his brother arrested with the narcotics.
Russell Manuel, a former Knight Oil Tools employee; Corey Jackson, a former Louisiana State Police trooper; and Jason Kinch, a former deputy with the Lafayette Parish Metro Narcotics Task Force all pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.
