The Arlington County Police Department told 7News that a victim entered the locker room on October 21, 2024, and observed Cox exposing his genitals.
Washington-Liberty High School has an inside pool that is open to the public and it is managed by Arlington Public Schools (APS). APS also manages pools at Wakefield High School and Yorktown High School.
Richard Kenneth Cox, 58, is now facing multiple charges in Arlington County, including several counts of intentionally making an obscene display of his private parts in a public place or in a place where others were present plus loitering within 100 feet of a high school after having been convicted of an offense prohibiting proximity to children.
Cox is listed as a female or "U" in the warrants of arrest.
Arlington County Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani Tafti's office is handling the prosecution of Cox. Cox has several upcoming court hearings.
Cox is on the sex offenders list.
Cox is a Tier III sex offender, according to court documents. Tier III offenses are the most serious type of sex offense with a required registration period of life.
On May 18, 1992, an Arlington County Grand Jury charged Cox with knowingly and intentionally exposing his genitals to a child under 14 years old.
7News reviewed Arlington County Circuit Court documents from the 1990s and confirmed that Cox was convicted of taking indecent liberties with children in Arlington. In 1992, Cox visited a gymnasium and exposed himself to multiple children, according to the court records. The investigation at the time said Cox held his penis in his hand and masturbated in front of the children. The court documents listed Cox as a male.
7News obtained letters Cox wrote in the 1990s after he was convicted of taking liberties with children.
Cox wrote that he had three years filled with trial and error with substance abuse and mental health treatment.
In a 1992 letter to a judge, Cox wrote that he was becoming aware of his "sexual problems" and sought help before it could escalate.
"I am aware that I suffer compulsions to expose myself in public places," Cox wrote in a letter to a judge in 1995 when he was incarcerated. Cox told the judge that he sought to have himself castrated, but didn't go through with the operation.
In 1995, Cox wrote to a judge that he was a victim of a sex crime committed by an older cousin when he was 11 years old.
Concerned mothers and women reached out to 7News about Cox exposing himself in the girls' locker room at Washington-Liberty High School last year and they fear this could happen again because of how the pool manager and the Arlington School Board handled the situation.
Before Cox was charged in October, a woman told 7News that she told the pool manager about the situation in September 2024, but she said the manager allowed Cox to continue to use the girl's locker room because he identified as transgender. The woman said she called the school board and reported the situation, but the Arlington School Board did not respond to her.
On Friday, 7News Reporter Nick Minock asked Arlington Public Schools:
Why did Arlington Public Schools allow a male sex offender to use the girl's locker room at Washington-Liberty High School?"APS permits pool patrons to access restrooms and facilities that correspond to their gender identity. We take every report of concerning or unsafe behavior very seriously and do not tolerate behaviors from any individual who is threatening or making others feel unsafe. APS responded to all patron concerns related to this matter in a timely manner and took appropriate and immediate action to investigate, notify law enforcement, and prevent the individual from returning to our pool facilities," an Arlington Public Schools spokesperson told 7News.
Why didn't the Arlington School Board members respond to the women and address the problem?
Is the Arlington School Board in favor of allowing men to use APS girl locker rooms if they identify as transgender?
Had APS googled Cox's name before allowing him to use the locker room, they would have found this post that stated, Cox is a sex offender and is the Virginia Department of Corrections Most Wanted in 2020.
Before Cox allegedly exposed his genitals to children in Arlington County, Cox was charged with indecent exposure for allegedly exposing himself in a Planet Fitness women's locker room on June 10, 2024, in Fairfax County.
The charge was dismissed.
On Wednesday, 7News emailed Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano's office and asked why this charge was dropped. Descano did not respond to that question.
In Fairfax County court documents from last year, Cox identifies as a transgender woman, although his sex is listed as male in summons and warrants of arrest.
"Gymnasiums have been places of social nudity dating back as far as the ancient Romans and Greeks," Cox wrote in a motion to dismiss the indecent exposure charge related to him allegedly exposing himself in a Planet Fitness women's locker room. "In fact, nudity among the ancients was not always segregated by gender either. It was not uncommon for a male to be naked around women or a female to be naked around men. But unless the event was something like an orgy, it was considered nothing but platonic to have this social nudity."
Cox's motion to dismiss the charge in Fairfax County continues:
At least in gymnasiums, this practice has continued to this day. And while Americans, at least into the twentieth century, have segregated our locker rooms by gender, in the twenty-first century America and the States have welcomed the presence of people known as transgender (such as myself) into society, and its locker rooms.Cox claims that he showed the Planet Fitness at 1101 Lee Highway in Fairfax, Va. his driver's license which Cox claims showed his gender as female.
Transgender people identify as belonging to a gender which may not conform to the sex they were assigned at birth. For a transgender person to be observed in a locker room nude is no proof that this also was anything more than platonic.
The offense of indecent exposure is even more of a burden to prove. For an action to be indecent exposure, the Complainant / Prosecution would have to prove not only that it was something more than platonic, but also that it was indecent.
Nudity alone is not indecent, or we could not have public locker rooms at all. 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.
Nothing on the record suggests this case would even pass the evidentiary requirements of discovery.
Why is the Magistrate spending taxpayer dollars writing a summons for this, or why is the Commonwealth's Attorney, prosecuting it, when the laws of the United States, of the Commonwealth of Virginia and Fairfax County are on my side? What I did was not illegal and I should not be harassed by this.
On Wednesday, 7News asked the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) if Cox's driver's license lists him as a female. The Virginia DMV said it will not release that information to 7News.
Virginia residents may submit requests to the Virginia DMV to change their sex on their driver's license or ID.
In 2020, then Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill into law that stated, "Applicants shall be permitted to choose between 'male,' 'female,' or 'non-binary' when designating the applicant's sex on the driver's license application form."
In 2007, Cox was convicted of six counts of possessing obscene materials with a minor in Fairfax County, according to the Virginia State Police's sex offender registry.
According to the Virginia State Police sex offender registry, Cox was also convicted in 2021 for failing to register as a sex offender.
In 1991, an Arlington County jury found Cox guilty of burglary for entering a building belonging to the Arlington YMCA Tennis and Squash Center and that he did so with the intent to commit larceny, according to court documents.
In 1992, Cox admitted to violating the conditions of his probation, according to court documents.
On November 20, 1989, an Arlington County Grand Jury charged Cox with stealing someone's silver chalice that was valued over $200, according to court records, and Cox pleaded guilty to committing grand larceny.
According to the Virginia State Police's sex offender registry, Cox lives in Arlington and uses several aliases including James F Cox, Richard K Cox, and James Edward Cox.
This guy needs to be removed from society.
Either in a mental institution as he is obviously unable to discern proper conduct, or in the slammer where he probably would not last long.
Either way, incurable.
Removal from society is the only ethical solution.