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A transgender registered sex offender in Virginia facing charges for allegedly exposing himself in a women’s locker room told police officers that barring him from public facilities would violate "civil rights."
Video obtained by ABC7 News staff showed 58-year-old Richard Cox being confronted by the police on Nov. 16 outside the Oakmont Rec Center in Fairfax County. This was one day after Fairfax County began a process to bar Cox from all county rec centers upon discovering his rap sheet.
In the police body cam footage that was released on Feb. 16, Cox claimed that utilizing his name on the sex offender registry was a "criminal misuse" of the law on par with banning Black people from public facilities.
"They don’t agree with you exercising your civil rights, so they try and make a criminal action out of it…Just to give an example, back when they didn’t want Black people in certain places, if they called the police and said, ‘hey we have asked this person to leave,’ you guys realize that was because he was Black," Cox told police in the footage.
Richard Cox has been accused of exposing himself in a women's bathroom. (Fox News Digital)
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Although ABC7 News reported that most court documents list Cox as a male, Cox insisted that he identified as a transgender female and should be allowed in women’s restrooms.
"My understanding of the sex offender registry, because 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 argued. "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 continued. "So them pulling up my information on the sex offender registry and using it to stop me from exercising my civil rights as a transgender person is a criminal misuse of the sex offender registry. They can use that registry to try and stop someone from committing a criminal offense, which I was not doing."
Cox claimed removing him from a female bathroom violated his "civil rights" as a trans person. (Getty Images)
"I was only exercising my civil rights, which they are completely and entirely opposed to. And they criminally use the sex offender registry against me. That should be for a judge to decide."
Despite police officers confronting Cox, no criminal charges were filed for the incident.
The video came months after Virginia mother Jen McDougal and her 9-year-old daughter reported seeing Cox naked in the middle of the locker room in Arlington, Virginia back in September. McDougal described the incident as an "awkward and scary" moment on "Fox & Friends."
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McDougal said at the time that staff told her there was nothing that could be done because of Cox’s status as a "transgender" individual.
Cox currently faces more than 20 charges in Arlington after police discovered multiple instances of Cox allegedly exposing himself to women and children in another fitness center and high school. A preliminary hearing is set for March.
Cox faces a preliminary hearing over allegations in Arlington, Virginia, though he was not charged for incidents that took place in September and November. (iStock)
Fox News Digital reached out to Fairfax County for comment.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
