A Virginia registered sex offender who identifies as “transgender” was in court Sept. 25 for a preliminary hearing after being accused of exposing himself to women and children in female locker rooms he was legally allowed to use.
Local ABC affiliate 7News reported that 12 witnesses testified in Richard Cox’s hearing, including women who said that they saw him naked in the women’s locker rooms of two high schools and a fitness center in Arlington County. The county and Arlington Public Schools allow residents to use single-sex spaces that align with their gender identity rather than their true sex.
A detective testified in the hearing that she discovered child pornography and children’s gymnastic and swimming class schedules on Cox’s phone. The prosecutor argues that the finding demonstrates a motive for Cox’s presence at the schools and fitness center.
Cox identifies as a woman and reportedly insisted on being addressed as such in court. He claimed the prosecutor was misgendering him and asked the judge to order the prosecutor to address him with female pronouns, a request that the judge declined.
7News reported that on at least two occasions, the women who testified at the hearing were with their young daughters when they discovered Cox in the locker rooms. A 17-year-old lifeguard at one of the schools also witnessed Cox in a locker room.
In the hearing, a police officer testified that he responded to a complaint about Cox in 2024 and, after waiting for an hour for Cox to exit the locker room, entered and saw Cox sitting naked inside.
According to 7News, Cox also entered women’s locker rooms in rec centers in Fairfax County last year. Although Fairfax County police had several interactions with Cox, the department decided not to charge him due to the county’s policy on gender identity, which mirrors that of Arlington County. Although Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis has defended the department’s decision, he has said that Cox is barred from rec centers in the county in the future.
7News also reported that Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano told police not to charge Cox last year, despite Cox’s status as a registered Tier III sex offender. His status prohibits him from being near day programs for children, a ban which he ignored during his visits to the Fairfax County rec centers.
The New York Post reported that Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, condemned Fairfax County officials for their handling of the situation and said Cox was “hunting” young girls.
“It is clear, given his past conduct, that he sought children out in a very deliberate, systemic manner for sexual gratification,” Miyares said Sept. 26. “He kept on his phone the schedule of the girl’s swim team so he could literally travel where they were and walk into their safe places.”
The New York Post also reported that the only Republican on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Pat Herrity, has also spoken out against Cox’s actions.
“Finding children’s swim class schedules on Richard Cox’s phone is both alarming and frightening,” he said. “It was the Board of Supervisors’ policy that allowed this to happen and continues to allow it to happen today. Biological males do not belong in girls’ and women’s locker rooms, period — it is that simple.”
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