180 years jail for sex abuse of staff and patients.
Joseph Clarence Cox, Gadsden, Alabama dentist sentenced to 180 years for sex abuse of patients and staff in repeat behavior across different practises.
Probably not the dentist you’re going to refer to friends and family …
A former Alabama dentist has been sentenced to serve 180 years in prison for r*pe, sod*my and sexual abuse involving former employees and patients from his dental office.
Joseph Clarence Cox, 44, of Gadsden, AL was found guilty by an Etowah County jury in January. The 180 year jail sentence comes following a Tuesday statement from Deputy District Attorney of Etowah County Carol Griffith.
Repeat sexual predator
Griffith said Cox was arrested in April 2021, following an extensive investigation by Gadsden Police Department, ABC3340 reported.
At trial, evidence showed there being a large employee turnover within his office, the Gadsden Dental Clinic which he started in 2017, between June 2020 and April 2021, due to Cox’s inappropriate sexual contact with employees.
Eight former employees testified to repeated incidents of sexual abuse by Cox that took place during normal business hours. Two of those employees told the jury that the incidents went beyond touching, and included incidents of both forcible rape and sodomy.
But there was more to come.
Three former patients also testified that Cox subjected them to sexual contact while he was performing their dental procedures.
In January, the jury found Cox guilty on two counts of Rape in the First Degree, two counts of Sodomy in the First Degree, and eight counts of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree following a week-long trial.
Personal ‘seedy’ playground
Years before he opened his dental practice in Gadsden, Cox had received complaints regarding sexual harassment and unwanted contact.
A former employee at his dental office in Fort Payne, less than an hour drive from Gadsden, accused him of smacking her bottom in 2012.
Cox had previously pled guilty to three counts of Harassment in Dekalb County in 2012. Those offenses resulted in a $500 fine, probation sentence, and Cox’s dental license being suspended for 6 months.
At sentencing, Circuit Judge George Day told Cox that he treated his place of business as his own personal playground, and that he showed no respect for any woman who entered into his office.
Cox was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment as to each count of Rape in the First Degree and Sodomy in the First Degree. He was ordered to serve ten (10) years in the state penitentiary as to each of the charges of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. Judge Day ordered that the sentences be run consecutively with each other, for a total of 180 years in prison, noting that it would not be justice for the each of the victims if the sentences were concurrent.
Griffith said that the convictions, and the substantial sentences imposed, represented a good day for justice and for the women in this community and the State of Alabama.
Amen!
