KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Noting what he did was "appalling," a federal judge Thursday sentenced a former Knoxville police officer to 25 years in prison for conspiring to get and receiving more than 40 sexually explicit images of a child starting when she was 6 years old.

Dan Roark, 48, will be 73 when he gets out of prison. After that, he faces the rest of his life on supervised released.

U.S. District Court Judge Katherine A. Crytzer accepted a specific sentencing agreement reached by defense attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman that called for a punishment range of 262 months to 300 months.

Crytzer chose the top of the range, which amounts to 25 years. Roark cried quietly at one point during the sentencing hearing and declined a chance to speak on his own behalf.

He is rep

See Full Page