Dentist jailed for 180 years after r@ping, sodomizing and abusing eight members of staff and his patients

A dentist in the US has been sentenced to 180 years in prison for raping, sodomizing, and sexually abusing eight members of his former staff and three patients from his dental office. 

 

 

Joseph Clarence Cox, 44, was arrested in April 2021 following an investigation by the Gadsden Police Department, which revealed shocking evidence of improper sexual contact between Cox and his staff. 

 

 

During the trial, a total of eight former employees and three patients testified to numerous incidents of sexual abuse, including rape, sodomy, and sexual contact during dental procedures.

 

 

After a week-long trial, the jury found him guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy, and eight counts of sexual abuse in January, according to ABC. 

 

 

Cox treated his place of business as his ‘own personal playground’ and showed zero respect for any woman who came to his office, Judge George Day said. 

 

 

Judge Day sentenced Cox to 25 years in prison for each count of rape and sodomy and 10 years for each count of sexual abuse. He ordered those sentences to run consecutively.

 

Cox, who started the Gadsden Dental Clinic in 2017 was arrested after officers found a large employee turnover within his business between June 2020 and April 2021. 

 

 

Officers executed search warrants at both his home and the clinic on Rainbow Drive and took him into custody a week later. 

 

 

Cox was later released after paying a $100,000 bond. 

 

 

During the trial, his former employees testified that the large turnover at the Gadsden Dental Clinic was due to repeated incidents of sexual abuse by Cox. 

 

 

Two former staff members stated that his behavior went beyond touching to rape and sodomy, with some incidents occurring during normal business hours. 

 

 

Patients were subjected to sexual contact during their dental procedures, according to two of them who testified.

 

 

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 accused him of smacking her bottom in 2012. 

 

 

Cox, who graduated from the University of Alabama School of Dentistry, pleaded guilty to three counts of harassment after appealing the case to circuit court, online records show. 

 

 

 He was fined $500, sentenced to probation, and his dental license was suspended for six months for those offenses at the time. 

 

 

In court earlier this year, Judge Day ordered his sentences to be run consecutively, stating that it would not be justice for each of the victims if the sentences were concurrent.