A former Shelby County firefighter has been convicted in a Bessemer court on charges rape and sodomy.

John Allen Knight, 39, of West Blocton was convicted Friday of producing child pornography, three counts of first-degree rape, three counts of first-degree sodomy and one count of sexual torture.

The jury in the trial returned the verdict after deliberating for two and a half hours. The judge in the case, Circuit Jude Teresa Petelos, was forced to cover the windows of her courtroom because evidence presented in the case by the prosecution was so graphic in nature.

According to information presented during the trial, investigators were able to recover thousands pornographic images involving children from a number of computers that Knight had access to.

The charges against him stem from incidents that occurred between January of 1996 and September 2004 involving a number of minor girls in the Bessemer area.

Kinght faces similar charges Shelby and Bibb counties. He is expected to go to trial in Bibb County on Oct. 2 and sentenced in Jefferson County on Nov. 1. He faces a possible sentence of up to life in prison for the offenses.

The two victims in the Bessemer case are now 15 and 17 years old