Fairfax County Should Be Especially Ashamed of Its Handling of the Richard K. Cox Case
How a "progressive" prosecutor and gender self-identification enabled a sexual predator
Richard K. Cox—the sexual predator who exploited gender identity policies in Northern Virginia—is again in the news cycle because the Education Freedom and Parental Rights Initiative recently obtained documents about the matter from Arlington County.
While these documents detail the failures of Arlington County to protect its girls and women from a registered sex offender, the conduct of the authorities in Fairfax County—where I live—was even worse. Had Fairfax County acted decisively when Cox’s pattern of behavior first emerged, he would never have had the opportunity to offend in Arlington County.
This case reveals how ideologically-driven prosecution policies and “inclusive” gender self-identification policies can compromise public safety.
Basic Facts of the Case
Richard K. Cox is a Tier III registered sex offender. Tier III is the most severe and requires lifetime registration.
In June of 2024, Cox identified as a transgender woman and entered the women’s locker rooms at several Planet Fitness locations.
After the episodes in Planet Fitness gyms, Cox proceeded to loiter in the women’s locker rooms at various Fairfax County and Arlington County recreational centers and high schools — the latter when their facilities were open to the public.
His modus operandi for these excursions was to loiter in the women’s locker room with his penis exposed and a towel draped over his head and shoulders.
Many complaints were made by women and by concerned parents of girls to the operators of the various establishments and to the police. At least one witness alleged having seen Cox masturbating in the locker room.
These encounters continued until December 6, 2024, when Cox was booked in Arlington County. Since then, he has been in the custody of Arlington County as his criminal charges go through trial.
Fairfax vs. Arlington County
The first complaints were made about Cox’s 2024 behavior due to his loitering in Planet Fitness gyms in June—in Fairfax County. The first complaint about Cox’s visits to a rec center again occurred in Fairfax County, in response to his visit to Franconia Rec Center on August 24, 2024.
According to local news, the first complaints about Cox’s behavior in Arlington County did not occur until October 2024. Furthermore, complaints about Cox leering at women and girls in Fairfax County rec centers’ locker rooms continued through November 2024, until he was eventually administratively banned from Fairfax County rec centers.
Throughout all of 2024, Fairfax County never put Cox behind bars. It could have done so when Cox first began exploiting the self-identification policy to prey on women and girls. If Fairfax County had acted, it would have prevented Cox from going on to offend in Arlington County.
The behavior of Arlington County officials in this case is indeed despicable. Still, at least Arlington County had the decency to eventually lock up Cox and prevent him from continuing to victimize women and girls. Fairfax County never did.
Context: The Commonwealth’s Attorney
This is particularly sensitive because Fairfax County experienced an abrupt change in law enforcement leadership in 2020.
The chief law enforcement officer of any county in Virginia is an elected official: the Commonwealth’s Attorney (CA). This is similar to the District Attorney in other states, but differs substantially from the systems in other countries. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the Crown Prosecutor serves a similar role, but is typically an appointed career civil servant rather than an elected official.
Fairfax County had over 50 years of continuity in the CA position. Bob Horan was CA from 1967 to 2007. His successor, Ray Morrogh, served from 2008 to 2019. Morrogh had been Horan’s deputy and largely continued Horan’s approach to law enforcement.
Horan and Morrogh were classic suburban prosecutors, characterized by professional, cautious, and tough-on-crime attitudes.
Then 2019 happened. Approximately $1,000,000 in out-of-county money was poured into the 2019 Democratic primary election for CA of Fairfax County from the “Justice & Public Safety” Political Action Committee (PAC), a George Soros-funded activist organization. (Fairfax County has never had a Republican serve as CA, so the primary election for the Democratic nominee for CA is typically the “real” election.) This was part of a campaign to install “progressive” prosecutors in districts across the United States.
By all accounts, Morrough, who was used to running for reelection with minimal opposition, was blindsided. He narrowly lost the primary to Steve Descano, who had received the lion's share (about $628,000) of the Justice & Public Safety PAC money. Morrogh would go on to endorse independent Jonathan Fahey in the general election instead of Descano, despite being ostensibly part of the same political party as Descano.
It seems that the major difference between having a “progressive” prosecutor such as Descano versus the previous prosecutors is that the role becomes politicized, and actual criminal prosecution decreases. Descano wrote an op-ed in The New York Times asserting he would not enforce any abortion restrictions in Fairfax County. Descano’s office dropped charges against a local brothel just down the street from me that had set up in a residential neighborhood across the street from a school bus stop.
After getting our “progressive” prosecutor, the official website of the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney (OCA) tells us, “The OCA is committed to promoting the long-term safety of the community while reforming Fairfax County’s justice system to make it more equitable.”
In its biography of Descano, the website states,
Since taking office, Steve [Descano] has undertaken a reform agenda aimed at mitigating racial and socioeconomic disparities and countering mass incarceration in Fairfax County’s Justice System — while keeping our communities safe. Under his leadership, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney has stopped requesting cash bail, implemented a new sentencing policy to address mass incarceration, and restructured the office to produce accountability around reforms, among other initiatives.
Basically, the OCA is now awash in the jargon and rhetoric of “equity” and “mass incarceration.”
It should be noted that — even before the rise of “progressive” prosecutors — a minority of crimes were ever punished, and a tiny percentage of offenders were ever sent to prison for their crimes. But this is a topic worthy of its own article.
What are these reforms that the above blurb alludes to? From the OCA’s “Common Misconceptions” website,
However, felony charges carry serious, life-altering consequences. Someone convicted of felony charges will have future barriers to finding a job, getting an education, or securing housing. We don’t want that — because it can lead to them committing more crime in the future. Instead, our office charges some conduct as misdemeanors — not felonies — when appropriate, to ensure accountability without sending someone up the ladder of criminal activity.
Thus, one “reform” appears to be to charge people with misdemeanors instead of felonies.
The practical impact of this philosophical shift became clear when Cox’s case reached Descano’s office. Local news reports,
Court records show before Cox visited Planet Fitness in Fairfax County, he was charged with three felonies for sex offender registry violations. But Descano’s office agreed to drop two of the felony charges and reduce the third felony charge to a misdemeanor, according to court records.
Court records also show Cox’s sentence ended up being 90 days in jail when he originally faced up to 15 years behind bars.
Again, from the “Common Misconceptions" website,
Prisons teach individuals how to get better at crime, and oftentimes push them to commit more crime once released. To avoid that, we don’t always want to send low-level, first time, and nonviolent offenders to jail. Instead, in certain situations we can use diversion, treatment, and suspended sentences to reduce the likelihood of these individuals further victimizing their neighborhoods — getting better safety outcomes without contributing to mass incarceration.
This is the theory behind non-punishment. These theoretical approaches to criminal justice had real-world consequences in the Cox case.
Cox was a registered Tier III sex offender who was not even allowed to be within 100 feet of children, let alone loitering naked in the same room with girls and women while they changed their clothes. The Fairfax County OCA could have prevented this from occurring.
Cox was the opposite of a “low-level, first time, and nonviolent offender.” Cox has spent a good chunk of his life in and out of prison from 1988 to 2018, having been charged with crimes such as exposing his genitals to a child under 14 years old and possessing obscene materials with a minor.
As later came to light, according to the charges filed in July of 2025 against him, Cox is alleged to have sexually assaulted a minor in Fairfax County way back in 1988. This case came about only because Cox was made infamous by his 2024 actions, and the victim recognized him in media coverage.
He was and is a predator that needs to be sequestered from the rest of the community. The Fairfax OCA could have and should have protected its citizens from him, but instead fell for his ruse of transgender identification. Cox spoke their ideological language and exploited this to evade serious prosecution.
Unsurprisingly, Jason Miyares, the Republican Attorney General of Virginia, publicly admonished CA Descano for his handling of the case. What is a bit more telling is that Dave Marsden, State Senator from Fairfax County and a Democrat, also called out CA Descano for this matter.
The Police’s Hands Are Tied
A lot of people are understandably angry about the way the Cox case was handled, and some of this anger is directed toward the Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD).
However, it is important to remember that in the United States, police departments have a lot of limits on what they can and cannot do.
For instance, in the brothel case, the day after the OCA pleaded the brothel owner down to a single charge of operating a massage parlor without a license, the FCPD parked a police cruiser directly across the street from the brothel in question, eventually leading to the brothel’s closure.
Timothy Carney, who lives in the area and so took an interest in the case, reports that
The police wanted to shut the place down, but they told neighbors, “Our hands are tied,” presumably a reference to Descano’s tolerance of the place.
With regard to the Richard Cox case, FCPD Chief of Police Kevin Davis, in public statements, sounds frustrated by the situation. When asked about the Cox case by Nick Minock of WJLA news, Chief Davis replied,
Nick, I am going to go through this, and this is being recorded, so please take the time to go back and listen to my response to your very specific question about Richard Cox.
Richard Cox on June the 10th, 2024 was arrested by Fairfax County police officers. That case made its way into a courtroom was dismissed because the victim in that case did not show up. That’s the first encounter.
The next encounter we had with Richard Cox on November 3rd, 2024, and he was in a shower in a locker room taking a shower, and the policy Parks and Rec allowed him and other persons to — and I am reading this verbatim — “to use the locker of room of the gender that they identify with.” So a crime was not committed. So he was not arrested by Fairfax County police officers.
The next time we had contact with Richard Cox was on November 15th, 2024. He was also in the women’s locker room. He was allowed to be in there — didn’t commit a crime where we had probable cause to arrest him. So we did not arrest him.
The next encounter we had with him — same month — November 16th, 2024, he was banned for the first time from Fairfax County Parks and Rec facilities, so if Richard Cox returns — and I don’t know where he is right now, don’t know if he is still being held in Arlington — I am sure you are going to share that with me. If Richard Cox returns to any Fairfax County Park and Rec facility, we will arrest him for tresspass.
I will arrest him myself. Okay?
If the Fairfax County OCA had proceeded with the felony sex offender registry violations, none of this would have mattered, including whether the victim appeared to testify in the misdemeanor case against Cox in June. Later, as Cox’s behavior continued, the FCPD was frustrated in their efforts by the policies of Fairfax County Parks.
The FCPD has to maintain an active working relationship with the OCA to do their job, so it is unlikely that any police officer will throw the OCA under the bus publicly. Indeed, Chief Davis’s insistence that he only answer “specific questions” and his word-for-word quoting of policy are indicative of the kind of pressure on the public statements by police on this matter.
While police might not say much publicly, reporter Nick Minock also interviewed Bryan Hill, the Fairfax County Executive. (The County Executive is a position appointed by the Board of Supervisors.)
Reporter Minock asked,
A lot of people are wondering why Fairfax County police have not charged Richard Cox for things like indecent exposure and indecent liberties with children. Those are some of the charges he’s facing in Arlington County, but not in Fairfax County. Why is that?
County Executive Hill replied,
Unfortunately, it’s a situation we are all trying to resolve, obviously. That’s why you are here. When we asked the Commonwealth’s Attorney if there were criminal charges that we could press, they stated, no, I can’t press a charge. I can’t charge the person.
It is clear that the failures in the handling of the Richard Cox case were due to the policies of the OCA and Fairfax County Parks, not the FCPD.
The Problem with Self-Identification
In court Thursday morning, Cox repeatedly insisted he is a woman, and insisted the judge order the prosecutor to stop misgendering him and to use female pronouns.
One thing that is remarkable about this case is that no one seems to be taking Richard Cox’s claims to transgender status seriously. This makes sense. Richard Cox is a very unsympathetic figure, a repeat sexual offender and pedophile. He has never, by any account, ever made any sincere attempt to transition, even socially. Indeed, as several victims have personally witnessed during his criminal acts, he is quite fond of his male anatomy.
This skepticism about Cox’s claims reveals a fundamental problem with self-identification policies. According to the logic of self-identification, someone merely says, “I am gender such-and-such,” and that person must be treated as being “really” gender such-and-such. If Richard Cox says he is a woman, then he is “really” a woman.
In short, the exploit that Richard Cox found is a feature, not a bug, of gender self-identification.
Gender self-identification is not a merely theoretical matter; it is the official policy of Fairfax County. Supervisor Pat Herrity testified to this before the Board of Supervisors,
On July 1, 2020, without Board input, review or approval, the Office of Human Rights and Equity Programs issued Memorandum Number 39-08 entitled “Employment Policies Related to Facility Access for Transgendered Workers” which states that, “all persons should have access to the facilities corresponding to their gender identity.”
The policy goes on further to state “No individual shall be asked to provide any medical or legal documentation of their gender identity in order to have access to gender-appropriate restrooms, sleeping quarters, locker rooms, or changing room facilities.”
No one seconded Supervisor Herrity’s motion to review this policy, so the motion failed. The Board seems content to treat the Cox case as a “one off” event.
County Executive Hill asserts,
So, I will say this to you again, we have had one situation. We have given a one-trespass, no trespass policy. That person comes on our property, he will be arrested. We have trans, we have bathrooms, all-gender bathrooms associated throughout the facilities, and people will use those bathrooms. This issue is one issue, one off.
Self-identification ideology demands that any declaration of gender identity be accepted without question or verification. There is no way to invalidate self-identification. But when faced with Cox, whose identification was clearly predatory, authorities implicitly acknowledged it was fraudulent and created a one-time exception just for him. This is contradictory. Can gender self-identification be invalidated or not?
When a policy is so easily exploited, the logical thing to do is to revisit the policy. Incidents such as these should call into question the ideology of gender self-identification itself.
Electoral Remedies
What can be done about this? Someone might say, “Vote.” Couldn’t Fairfax County get a better Commonwealth’s Attorney again?
Neighboring Loudoun County recently did just that. Bob Anderson, who was previously CA from 1996 to 2003, narrowly won an election against incumbent CA and “progressive” prosecutor Buta Biberaj with a margin of only 68,068 to 67,768 votes. This came after Biberaj had prosecuted Scott Smith, the father of a high school girl who had been raped in the bathroom of a Loudoun County school, for an incident that occurred while Superintendent Scott Ziegler made false statements that “we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our bathrooms.”
However, Loudoun County could utilize this remedy because it occasionally holds competitive two-party elections. (Bob Anderson ran as a Republican.) This is unlikely to occur in Fairfax County, which does not elect Republicans for the Commonwealth’s Attorney. Steve Descano has already survived one primary challenge in 2023 from a more law-and-order Democrat in Ed Nuttall, and Descano is now entrenched in the Virginia Democratic Party establishment.
This kind of lax law enforcement appears to be what Fairfax County can expect for the foreseeable future.
Conclusion
The Richard K. Cox case highlights two unfortunate trends in criminal justice that intersected to create an environment in Fairfax County that Cox could exploit for months:
The installation of “progressive” prosecutors, supported by outsider money, who use the rhetoric of “mass incarceration” to minimize the punishment of criminal offenders
The rise of policies of gender self-identification, which positively assert that someone’s gender identity should have no criteria whatsoever other than a person’s own declaration
The Fairfax County Police Department attempted to protect the citizens of Fairfax County, but the police were hindered for months by either or both of these factors.
This is a cautionary tale for other jurisdictions. This could happen in many counties in the United States. A well-funded “progressive” prosecutor can narrowly win an election against an incumbent. An unelected bureaucracy can institute a gender self-identification policy with little public scrutiny. Your daughters, too, can walk into their locker rooms to find a sexual predator masturbating in the shower.