HAMLET — Another Richmond County sex offender on parole has been charged with a violation.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies received a complaint that 35-year-old Michael Wayne Cox Jr., of Rockingham, was seen at Hamlet Middle School during softball practice for the Parks and Recreation Department.
Records show Cox has been on the N.C. Sex Offender Registry since May 6, 2016 after being convicted on five counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor.
According to the Registry, the incidents took place in 2012 when Cox was 23 years old (24 in one case) and the victim was 9.
Investigators say Cox is restricted from being on the grounds of a school or daycare. The sheriff’s office does add that there is “no evidence of Cox attempting to make contact with anyone while on the property.”
Cox was arrested Friday, May 24 and charged with sex offender unlawfully on premises. He was booked into the Richmond County Jail and held on a $10,000 secured bond.
He is currently being held at Craven Correctional Institution on a three-month post-release violation.
Online court records show Cox is scheduled to appear in court June 6 for the felony violation.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Cox is on parole, having been released from prison in March after serving time for two counts of failing to notify a change of address. His parole was set to end March 1, 2025.
Cox was initially given a suspended sentence on his original convictions, but his probation was revoked in 2018, landing him behind bars for nearly three years.
He was released from prison in November 2021, but returned in September 2022 for the aforementioned address-change violations.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
