Richard K. Cox has been found guilty of 12 felony sex-offender loitering offences in Arlington County, Virginia, after entering no-contest pleas in court.
The pleas were made without a sentencing agreement or concessions from prosecutors. Each Class 6 felony carries a maximum sentence of five years, meaning Cox faces up to 60 years in prison for the loitering convictions alone.
The charges relate to allegations that Cox, a registered sex offender barred from being near children, loitered within 100 feet of schools and other child-focused facilities on separate occasions.
Virginia Court of Appeals revived loitering case
The case had been thrown into doubt after an Arlington County Circuit Court judge dismissed the indictments, ruling that the Virginia law was unconstitutionally vague.
Prosecutors appealed, and the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled in August that the trial judge should first have considered whether the statute was constitutional as applied to Cox. The appellate court sent the case back to the circuit court, allowing the charges to proceed.
The court’s opinion said police had been called to Washington-Liberty High School on 21 October 2024 after reports of a person naked in a shower inside the women’s locker room. Investigators later linked Cox to several Arlington public school facilities, where women and children were reported to have seen Cox during the autumn.
Cox was arrested on 6 December 2024 after staff at the Barcroft Sport and Fitness Center reported that Cox was using the women’s locker room.
The latest convictions follow two separate convictions in February 2026 for possession of child pornography as a repeat offender. Those offences carry a combined maximum sentence of 20 years, and Cox is awaiting sentencing in both cases.
Fourteen further charges remain pending. They include five counts of indecent liberties, five counts of indecent exposure, three counts of unlawfully being on school property as a Tier III sex offender and one count of identity theft.
Prosecutors have said they intend to pursue all of the remaining charges. A jury trial is due to begin on 11 January 2027.
