A badge doesn’t always make you a good person. An on-duty Virginia police officer is accused of kidnapping and raping a teenage girl in his patrol car.
According to the Miami Herald, Officer Cleshaun Cox and another senior officer responded to a noise complaint in a parking lot in Portsmouth. When they arrived at the scene, they found the 17-year-old girl and her friend inside a vehicle and told them to drive home.
Cox reviewed the girl’s driver’s license and knew she was a minor. However, according to statements obtained by the publication, he later lied and told detectives she was 18.
Unbeknownst to the victim, Officer Cox followed behind in his marked Portsmouth Police Department car on the evening of May 27, 2019. When the teen noticed his vehicle, they pulled over to a gas station.
Cox then turned on his patrol lights and threatened to ticket the 17-year-old for “numerous minor offenses, including issues with her headlights” because “he wanted to coerce her into sexual acts with him,” the statement of facts said.
The now-former officer ordered the teen to take her friend home. After dropping the friend off, he instructed her to go to a parking lot, where he threatened to give her a ticket unless she agreed to a “deal” involving performing sex acts with him; the statement of facts continued. He then coerced her to get into his vehicle, despite her pleas that she didn’t want to engage in sexual acts.
Cox then drove her to an isolated area where he raped her. He later lied about following the victim home and raping her during a voluntary interview with detectives on May 27, federal authorities said.
Cox, 31, pleaded guilty on July 14 to violating the teen’s civil rights “by forcibly sexually assaulting her,” according to prosecutors and court documents.
He is facing at least 15 years and up to 20 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a July 14 press release.
Cox’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 28, according to prosecutors.
