Adrian Thomas Knight Jr.

Sentenced. Knight, already a convicted felon awaiting sentencing in a separate multi-count fraud case, was sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, running consecutively to a six-year fraud sentence.

Introduction

Adrian Thomas Knight Jr., 42, of Chesapeake, Virginia, was sentenced to two years and six months in federal prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon — a term that runs consecutively to a six-year sentence he received in a separate fraud conviction . The sentencing, announced October 23, 2026 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, traces back to a December 1, 2025 domestic-assault 911 call at a Chesapeake residence in which reports indicated Knight was cocking a firearm while battering an individual . The case is the firearms appendix to a fraud prosecution: by the time officers reached the residence, the man holding the gun was already a convicted felon whose sentencing on mail-, bank-, and wire-fraud counts was still pending .

Background Information

At the time of the December 2025 incident, Knight had been convicted of conspiracy to commit mail, bank, and wire fraud; wire fraud; and bank fraud, with sentencing in that case still pending — a status that made any firearm possession a federal felony under the felon-in-possession statute . The domestic call that drew police to the Chesapeake residence carried reports that Knight was cocking a firearm while battering an individual, placing a weapon in the hands of a person federal law flatly prohibits from holding one . When questioned, and even though he knew he had two firearms, Knight stated: “I’m on federal probation, why would I have a gun?”

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Officers arrested Knight after the December 1, 2025 call, and an officer obtained a no-contact Emergency Protective Order prohibiting him from returning to the residence . Around 3:30 a.m., despite being served with the order, Knight returned to the residence and was arrested a second time — the return trip that turned a single night’s domestic call into a two-arrest record and, ultimately, a federal firearms case . The federal charge that followed was possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clayton D. LaForge and heard by U.S. District Judge Jamar K. Walker .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Anthony A. Spotswood, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Washington Field Division, made the announcement after sentencing — an ATF field division taking the lead in a Chesapeake domestic call’s federal aftermath . The release does not include a statement from Knight or his defense, and the two firearms cited in the questioning exchange stand as the case’s central evidentiary detail . Court documents in the case are located on the Eastern District of Virginia’s website and on PACER under Case No. 2:26-cr-23 .

Current Status

Knight, 42, is serving a 30-month federal sentence imposed October 22, 2026, consecutive to the six-year fraud sentence, for a combined exposure measured in years rather than months . The felon-in-possession conviction is final at sentencing; the release does not describe any appeal, and the fraud case’s own sentencing posture — described as pending at the time of the December 2025 incident — has resolved into the six-year term the firearms sentence now stacks onto .

Impact on Their Career/Life

At 42, Knight faces a combined sentence of eight and a half years across two federal convictions — a fraud prosecution built on conspiracy, wire, and bank fraud counts, and a firearms case born from a single domestic call and a 3:30 a.m. return to a residence he was ordered to stay away from. The case marks how a pending sentencing converts ordinary contact with police into categorical federal exposure: the same night that produced the protective order produced the gun charge, and the question he asked officers — why would a man on federal probation have a gun — became the quote a federal release attached to his sentencing.

Sources

• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia, “Convicted felon sentenced to two and a half years in prison for firearms crime in addition to a six-year sentence for fraud,” October 23, 2026 — source