District Attorney Will Furse alleges that Cox committed second-degree perjury, false reporting to authorities and second-degree misconduct in relation to two separate incidents that occurred in August and September of this year. The charges are connected to a using law enforcement equipment to conduct personal investigations, and a traffic stop.
According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation master report, provided by Furse, a criminal complaint against Cox was filed by deputy marshal Yvonne McClellan on Oct. 13.
McClellan told CBI agent Jeff Brown that Cox had asked her and fellow deputy marshal Jason Spruell to run the license plates on all dual white pickups in town, as he was conducting a personal investigation on a romantic rival.
“Deputy McClellan said Marshal Cox asked this in reference to his personal life. ... McClellan went on to explain that Marshal Cox is dating a woman, who is dating another man. Marshal Cox knew the other man drove a pickup that matched this description,” Brown wrote. McClellan told CBI that she and deputy Spruell did not act on this request, but later found some vehicle registration information on the office fax machine, as Cox was running license plates through the Cortez Communications Center, according to the report.
‘Made up a speed’ for citation
McClellan also reported a separate incident, wherein an on-duty Cox, was giving McClellan – who was off-duty at the time – a ride to Cortez to pick up her personal vehicle. While stopping for coffee on the way to Cortez, Cox saw a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed down and “came running out of the coffee shop, and turned on his lights and siren and pursued the vehicle.”
McClellan said Cox issued the driver a ticket for traveling 45 in a 20 mph zone, and doubled the fine as it was a school zone.
“McClellan confronted Cox about the citation at the time and the fact that he had made up a speed for the citation, and he responded to something of the effect of ‘That’s just the way it is,’” the report reads.
Cox resigned his post on Monday. He was placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 4, before the investigation was made public. He also faces a DUI charge after crashing his vehicle into a guardrail on U.S. Highway 160 in La Plata County on Nov. 10.
The Mancos Town Board has appointed deputy Jason Spruell as interim marshal, and voted to advertise as soon as possible for a marshal and a deputy.
