Ex-Tupelo businessman Michael Cox pleads guilty to threats, but still faces sex charges

TUPELO – A former Tupelo businessman has pleaded guilty to threatening a city worker, but he still faces charges that he sexually assaulted an underage employee three years ago.

In early 2023, a Lee County grand jury indicted 38-year-old Michael Robert Cox on two counts of sexually assaulting a minor and one felony count of attempting to force a 16-year-old girl to take a nude photo. While out on bond on those charges, he threatened a city code officer who said the grass in Cox’s yard on Arlington Drive was too tall and needed mowing for the third time in less than two months.

A subsequent angry, profanity-laced call led to additional charges and Cox’s bail being revoked.

Earlier this month, Cox pleaded guilty to the menacing charge and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with six years suspended and must serve five years of supervised release. He must also pay more than $2,100 in court costs, fines and fees. In addition, Cox cannot have contact with a city worker and must successfully complete an anger management course upon release.

Cox still faces trial on three sex charges. Earlier this month, District Judge John White set a trial date of February 11, 2025.

Cox is accused of trying to convince a 16-year-old employee to take a nude photo of herself in September 2021. He is also accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with the same girl the following month. A Lee County grand jury handed down the three-count indictment about a year later. He was arrested and released on $75,000 bail.

After that bond was revoked in August 2023, Cox continued to work in the court system. In October 2023, he filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, complaining of conditions in the Lee County Jail. When he failed to fill out the proper paperwork and submit his request for relief in the proper form, U.S. District Court Judge Aycock dismissed the case.

After Cox was transferred to the Itawamba County Jail because of overcrowding at the Lee County facility, he submitted a second handwritten letter complaining about his jail conditions and treatment by jail staff. After two federal judges recused themselves, the case was assigned to Senior U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson, who took no action on an amended complaint filed in late September.