Wednesday, September 7, 2011

John Knapp Leaves New York State

Last week, John Knapp left New York State for Indiana. Apparently, he went to be with his girlfriend Kimmie Deckard who lives in Bedford, Greene County, Indiana. However, in the current situation, it looks like that the real reason for his leaving NYS is different. He met Kimmie online on June 14, when he was already under investigation and it was 2 weeks after the previous registration of his license ended. So, his leaving NYS looks like another attempt to avoid punishment for his ethical violations. His other attempts were:
1) missing the time for renewal of his registration, though later he had it renewed;
2) public announcement that he is going to leave his profession, though until now he is listed in NYS board database as a registered LMSW.

Also, his recent leaving NYS for Indiana looks similar to his leaving California for NYS in mid-1990s after a conflict and split with Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer over The Margaret Thaler Singer Foundation, Inc., a non-profit of which he was executive director.

7 comments:

Monica Pignotti said...

Just FYI, even if he has moved to another state, if he still retains his NY state license of LMSW (which to date, he apparently has), he will still be considered in the jurisdiction of the NY State office of the professions and hence, subject to any investigations or disciplinary actions they may choose to take in the future, based on the present complaint or any others. The only way he can get out of this would be to surrender his license, but thus far, as you note, the public records indicate he is still registered and listed. As long as he remains licensed, regardless of where he lives, he has to answer to them. That's my understanding.

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

Monica, thank you for this information.

Anonymous said...

Isn't anybody concerned that John is still married?!!! And living with the mother of one of his clients?!!! Isn't this unethical?!!!

Penny Pelkey said...

Isnt' anyone concerned that John is a married man living with the mother of one of his clients?!!!!

Penny Pelkey said...

Isn't anyone concerned that John is still married and living with the mother of one of his clients?!!!!

Isn't that unethical?

Monica Pignotti said...

Hi Penny,
I hadn't realized that. This is news to me, but if this is so, I find that very concerning. Have you notified his board investigator of this? No licensed therapist should be living with the parent of a client, married or not, as I understand the NASW Code of Ethics, in my opinion.

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

Penny, I did not have access to Internet for several days. This is why I approved your comments only today. Sorry for this delay.

Monica, thank you for your comment.