A male sex offender who last year began claiming he identified as transgender told police that his “civil rights” allow him to use bathrooms that correspond with his gender identity.
Richard Cox, 58, is currently facing 22 charges in Arlington County, Virginia, after he allegedly exposed himself to women and children in two different women’s locker rooms. When questioned by police, Cox, who is on the registered sex offender list for exposing his genitals to women and children in public places, insisted his “civil rights as a transgender person” allowed him to be in women’s spaces, WJLA reported last week.
“My understanding of the sex offender registry, cuz I understand that they’re concerned about my history and that’s the reason they’re banning me, and my understanding of the sex offender registry – is it is a tool to be used to prevent any sort of future criminal offenses,” Cox said in police body cam footage of the encounter, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from WJLA. “Now, my civil rights as a transgender person allows me to use a public facility including the restrooms or changing rooms that identify with my gender and you can see on my ID that I’m recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as female. So, exercising my civil rights is not a criminal offense,” Cox is heard saying on the police body camera video.
The footage is from November in Fairfax County, when a supervisor with the county parks called the police on Cox after he allegedly visited several facilities and exposed himself in the women’s locker room.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Cox was convicted of taking indecent liberties with children in Arlington in 1992. The charges stemmed from an incident during which Cox masturbated in front of children in a gymnasium.
In letters he wrote after the conviction obtained by WJLA, Cox acknowledged that he has “compulsions to expose myself in public places.”
Last year, Cox’s sex was listed as male in court documents but is now listed as female. In June 2024, he was charged with indecent exposure for allegedly exposing his genitals in the women’s locker room of a Planet Fitness gym, but that charge was dismissed for unknown reasons.
“Nudity alone is not indecent, or we could not have public locker rooms at all,” Cox wrote in a motion to dismiss the charge against him. “And the question of whether it is indecent for a transgender person to be nude in the locker room that they identify with has also been answered by our courts, our legislatures, and public opinion, and the answer is, No. So whatever it is that my accuser calls ‘indecent,’ other than the anti-trans discrimination that she harbors in her own mind, it has not been and cannot be proven to the court.”
Cox’s current charges stem from multiple incidents. He was arrested at a fitness center on December 6 for trespassing and providing a false identity, Fox 5 DC reported. He also faces charges of indecent exposure and indecent liberties with children after he allegedly exposed his genitals in the women’s locker room at this fitness center on November 30 and December 2. Cox allegedly exposed his genitals when an adult and two children were present.
Some of his current charges also stem from an incident on October 21, 2024, when an unnamed victim entered the girls’ locker room and saw him allegedly exposing his genitals.
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
A male sex offender who last year began claiming he identified as transgender told police that his “civil rights” allow him to use bathrooms that correspond with his gender identity.
Richard Cox, 58, is currently facing 22 charges in Arlington County, Virginia, after he allegedly exposed himself to women and children in two different women’s locker rooms. When questioned by police, Cox, who is on the registered sex offender list for exposing his genitals to women and children in public places, insisted his “civil rights as a transgender person” allowed him to be in women’s spaces, WJLA reported last week.
“My understanding of the sex offender registry, cuz I understand that they’re concerned about my history and that’s the reason they’re banning me, and my understanding of the sex offender registry – is it is a tool to be used to prevent any sort of future criminal offenses,” Cox said in police body cam footage of the encounter, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request from WJLA. “Now, my civil rights as a transgender person allows me to use a public facility including the restrooms or changing rooms that identify with my gender and you can see on my ID that I’m recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as female. So, exercising my civil rights is not a criminal offense,” Cox is heard saying on the police body camera video.
The footage is from November in Fairfax County, when a supervisor with the county parks called the police on Cox after he allegedly visited several facilities and exposed himself in the women’s locker room.
As The Daily Wire previously reported, Cox was convicted of taking indecent liberties with children in Arlington in 1992. The charges stemmed from an incident during which Cox masturbated in front of children in a gymnasium.
In letters he wrote after the conviction obtained by WJLA, Cox acknowledged that he has “compulsions to expose myself in public places.”
Last year, Cox’s sex was listed as male in court documents but is now listed as female. In June 2024, he was charged with indecent exposure for allegedly exposing his genitals in the women’s locker room of a Planet Fitness gym, but that charge was dismissed for unknown reasons.
“Nudity alone is not indecent, or we could not have public locker rooms at all,” Cox wrote in a motion to dismiss the charge against him. “And the question of whether it is indecent for a transgender person to be nude in the locker room that they identify with has also been answered by our courts, our legislatures, and public opinion, and the answer is, No. So whatever it is that my accuser calls ‘indecent,’ other than the anti-trans discrimination that she harbors in her own mind, it has not been and cannot be proven to the court.”
Cox’s current charges stem from multiple incidents. He was arrested at a fitness center on December 6 for trespassing and providing a false identity, Fox 5 DC reported. He also faces charges of indecent exposure and indecent liberties with children after he allegedly exposed his genitals in the women’s locker room at this fitness center on November 30 and December 2. Cox allegedly exposed his genitals when an adult and two children were present.
Some of his current charges also stem from an incident on October 21, 2024, when an unnamed victim entered the girls’ locker room and saw him allegedly exposing his genitals.
“}]]
