James Pernell Knott Jr., 31, of Pomfret (2022)
James Pernell Knott Jr., 31, of Pomfret, has been charged in Charles County District Court with robbery, second-degree assault and theft of property valued between $100 and under $1,500 after authorities said a man was robbed in Waldorf.
According to charging documents filed by the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, the reported robbery took place near Old Washington Road in Waldorf. Court records list the offense date as May 14, 2026, while the application for statement of charges describes the incident as occurring on April 28, 2026. The documents state that an officer responded to Stone Avenue in Waldorf at about 12:09 p.m. for a report of a robbery that had occurred about 30 minutes earlier.
The adult male victim told the officer he had been walking to the AT&T building next to the Dash-In to pay his phone bill when a man approached him and called him by name, according to court documents. The victim said he did not know the man but may have recognized him from when he lived in Indian Head. The victim told police that, while speaking with the man in front of the Dash-In, he said, “I don’t have any money.”
Court documents state that the comment may have upset the suspect, who began asking why the victim would say that. The victim continued walking and used a shortcut to reach AT&T. On his way home, he told police he stopped at a liquor store and bought Natty Daddy’s and a $5 scratch-off ticket. The documents say two suspects then began following him and yelling, Why’d you lie to us?
According to the application for charges, the victim tried to walk away, but the suspects continued following him. The documents allege that one suspect came up behind him, grabbed him around the body and threw him to the ground. Both suspects then went through his pockets and took his belongings, including a wallet, phone, scratch-off ticket and a shopping bag, according to the filing.
The stolen items were listed in court records as a white smartphone valued at about $100, a wallet containing a Maryland ID, Social Security card and food stamp card, about $20, three 25-ounce Natty Daddy beers valued at $6.60, and a $5 scratch-off ticket. The total value of the items was listed at about $132.60. Officers later found the victim’s wallet and phone and returned them undamaged, with nothing missing from the wallet, according to court documents. The beer and scratch-off ticket were not found.
The victim described one suspect as a tall Black male wearing all black and about 6 feet 5 inches tall, and the second as a lighter-skinned Black male with a cross tattoo on his right cheek and about 5 feet 11 inches tall, according to the application for charges. The officer wrote that he later went to the Dash-In on Crain Highway in Waldorf to review surveillance video and found footage showing one suspect inside the store and speaking with the victim in the parking lot.
The officer stated that suspect photos were submitted to the Southern Maryland Information Center, which returned multiple responses identifying James Pernell Knott Jr. The officer wrote that Knott was positively identified as one of the suspects based on a Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration photo, the victim’s account, the victim’s possible recognition of him from the Indian Head area, and Dash-In surveillance footage showing Knott and the victim interacting.
A criminal summons was issued on May 14, 2026.
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In a separate 2022 case, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office reported that James Pernell Knott Jr., then 27, of Indian Head, was arrested after a stabbing at the Smallwood Park and Ride in Waldorf.
According to the agency’s May 12, 2022, release, officers learned that an adult victim had been stabbed during an argument in the parking lot on May 9, 2022, and was later treated at Charles Regional Medical Center and released. The agency said a civilian police communications officer reviewed surveillance footage, identified the assault and provided a suspect description, and a bus driver later spotted the suspect and notified police.
Sheriff Troy Berry said, “This was an outstanding arrest in that the police dispatcher took quick and immediate action on her own in an attempt to identify the suspect. The bus driver followed through by calling officers when he observed the suspect in the parking lot the next day,” adding, “Due to the teamwork, a dangerous person was quickly apprehended.”
Knott was charged in that case with first-degree assault and second-degree assault.
