Former Phoenix firefighter evades jail with probation sentence

PHOENIX — His job was to protect the lives of others.

But Gregory Knauss, a former Phoenix firefighter, is now a convicted felon after he was charged with destroying two homes and terrifying the victims.

However, Knauss won’t see any time behind bars.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sam Myers sentenced Knauss to four years of supervised probation on Tuesday despite a request for jail time from the prosecutor and both victims.

He will only go to jail if he violates the conditions of his probation, which include not contacting the victims or drinking alcohol.

“Some people see prison as a harsher sentence. I view things a little differently,” Myers said. “And, I sometimes think prison is the easier sentence cause you just go serve your time and come back the same person without having to do any work.”

The sentence infuriated one of the victims.

“I’m at a loss for words,” one of the victims told 12News. 

Each victim spoke at the hearing, but they asked not to have their identities disclosed because they feared retribution. One told the judge the incident terrorized his two little kids.

Knauss had been charged with causing more than $25,000 worth of damage to a home in Peoria in January 2024. 

Shortly thereafter, he was arrested again and charged with damaging a home in Phoenix in 2020, according to court documents.

He initially faced 10 charges, including threatening another person, but he ultimately pled guilty to one felony: Criminal damage of another person’s property.

“He put spray foam in all the vents of my house and made my house inoperable, uninhabitable, and a fire hazard. So my toilets would overflow, my bathtub would back up, my sinks wouldn’t work. So, I had to get numerous plumbers out there,” one of the victims told 12News.

In that case, Knauss was accused of drilling holes into the roof of a home and pumping spray foam into the plumbing and draining systems of the home, causing flooding and water damage.

The court documents say Knauss damaged the home in Peoria after getting into a dispute with the homeowner, who told 12News that he dated Knauss’s wife in high school.

Knauss was also accused of sending threatening text messages to the victim, one of which said, “I know where you live and where you work. If you don’t think I will destroy your life, I don’t think you know who I am,” records say. 

Court documents say Knauss had access to the spray foam and tools to damage the home as he is the owner of a home remodeling business.  

On March 12, 2024, just days after Knauss’ arrest in the Peoria case was announced, a man from Phoenix contacted Peoria police. 

He said Knauss had damaged his home in September 2020 in a similar way to what happened in Peoria, the records say. 

The Phoenix man accused Knauss of coming onto his property, near the intersection of Thomas Road and Central Avenue, spraying foam into his drain pipe, which caused sewage to back up into his home through the shower, toilet and other water fixtures. The drain pipe ultimately had to be replaced. In total, the repairs cost $5,487, according to court documents. 

The victim also accused Knauss of poisoning a lemon tree and grass in his front yard. At the time, Phoenix police found a bottle of Pramitol 25E, a herbicide, in Knauss’ trash can, the records say. The Arizona Department of Agriculture confirmed the chemical was used around the tree and Knauss was issued a citation for illegal use of a pesticide.  

Court documents say the Phoenix victim and Knauss were neighbors at the time of the damage, and they had a dispute over a carport that Knauss planned to build that extended onto the victim’s property. The City of Phoenix ultimately did not let Knauss build the carport after zoning the victim’s property. The victim ended up getting an order of protection against Knauss after Knauss allegedly threatened him, saying the victim, “has not seen anything yet.” 

Despite the arrests, he was allowed to keep working for the Phoenix Fire Department until April 2024.

Ali Pardi, a Phoenix Fire Department spokesperson, did not return repeated requests for comment.

He was also previously convicted of stealing a car and forgery, and has been arrested for a handful of other charges, court records show.

The presentencing report for the judge stated his criminal history consists of three misdemeanors, but “criminal behavior appears to be escalating.”

“It is concerning that despite his previous Court sanctions including his probation grant, the defendant has continued to engage in criminal behavior and create victims,” the report said.

The report recommended a six-month jail sentence for Knauss.

During Tuesday’s brief sentencing hearing in downtown Phoenix, Knauss apologized.

“I want to start by saying I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done. I take full responsibility for my actions, and I understand the impact that they had,” he said.

Despite admitting to a felony, 12News learned that Knauss still could collect a big state pension.

“Mr. Knauss did not commit his crime during the course of his employment as necessary to forfeit his retirement,” said Karla Navarrette-Contreras, a spokesperson for the county attorney’s office. “His offenses were committed when he was acting as a private citizen.”

Yet, he was still a firefighter during both incidents.

A state pension official told 12News that when Knauss quit in April 2024, he was just two years short of qualifying for a full, lifetime pension.

If Knauss, 41, gets hired at another fire department in Arizona and works two years, he would qualify for that full pension.

If he doesn’t get another firefighting job, he’s entitled to withdraw the $110,876 that he contributed to his state pension, according to a pension official.

Further, he could qualify for a deferred annuity at age 62 if he doesn’t become a firefighter again.