Former Alabama dentist receives 180-year sentence for sexual abuse of patients and staff

ETOWAH COUNTY, Ala. (WBMA) — A former Alabama dentist was sentenced to serve 180 years in prison for rape, sodomy and sexual abuse inflicted on former employees and patients from his dental office.

Deputy District Attorney of Etowah County Carol Griffith said 44-year-old Joseph Clarence Cox was found guilty by a jury in January.

Griffith said Cox was arrested in April 2021, following an extensive investigation by Gadsden Police Department. At trial, evidence showed that there was a large employee turnover within his office 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. 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.

Cox had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of Harassment in Dekalb County in 2012, following similar allegations. Those offenses resulted in a probation sentence, and Cox’s dental license was suspended for a period of six 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 25 years imprisonment as to each count of rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree.

He was ordered to serve 10 years in the state penitentiary as to each of the charges of sexual abuse in the first degree. 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 the community and the state of Alabama.

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