Sex offender charged with tutoring children

DOVER — A registered sex offender could face 7½ to 15 years in state prison for allegedly tutoring two home-schooled students in Dover earlier this year.

Gregory C. Knowles, 45, of Lexington Street in Dover, was indicted this month on a Class A felony charge of prohibition from childcare service due to his past offense.

The indictment alleges Knowles "knowingly undertook volunteer service involving the care, instruction or guidance of a minor" when he homeschooled children in Dover between Jan. 28 and Feb. 6, despite having previously been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor in New Hampshire in 2010.

Dover police couldn’t be immediately reached for further information about the investigation Tuesday.

Knowles hasn’t been arrested in conjunction with the case. Court records indicate police transferred the case directly to the Strafford County attorney’s office for prosecution.

Knowles was registered as a sex offender after pleading guilty in Strafford County Superior Court in 2010 to a misdemeanor count of sexual assault following a relationship he had with a 14-year-old girl, according to court records.

He also faced felonious sex assault charges, but court records indicate they were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea on the misdemeanor offense.

Knowles is scheduled to be arraigned on the new indictment in Strafford County Superior Court at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 30.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt; rather, it means a jury found sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.