The former Mancos marshal who pleaded guilty earlier this year to drunken driving has been arrested again – this time for driving on a revoked license.
John Cox, 55, was stopped last week while driving his 2014 red Jeep in the 500 block of Camino del Rio, near the DoubleTree Hotel in Durango.
Cox was traveling south at 1:12 a.m. May 30 when he failed to activate his right-turn signal while merging onto U.S. Highway 160 to go west toward Mancos, according to an arrest affidavit.
An officer with the Durango Police Department stopped the vehicle and learned Cox’s driving privileges had been revoked May 1 for a DUI conviction.
The drunken driving incident occurred about 11 p.m. Nov. 10, 2015, on U.S. Highway 160 near Cherry Creek subdivision and the Montezuma County line. Cox, who was on leave, lost control of his 2003 white Ford F-150 pickup and slid into a guardrail. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.126, well over the 0.08 driving limit in Colorado.
Cox was sentenced to one-year probation after pleading guilty to drunken driving.
Cox was hired in August 2012 as a deputy for the Mancos Marshal’s Office. He was promoted April 2013 to marshal.
It is not the first time Cox has found himself on the wrong side of the law. While serving as the Mancos Marshal, Cox issued a citation to a woman for driving 45 mph in a 25 mph zone. On a report, he claimed to have caught her on radar, but a fellow deputy said Cox was sitting in a coffee shop when the driver sped by. He pleaded guilty to official misconduct in connection with falsifying a speeding ticket. He was sentenced to six months of probation, ordered to write the town of Mancos a letter of apology and pay restitution for the cost of the speeding ticket to the victim.
He also was accused of using law enforcement information systems to conduct a personal investigation into a romantic rival by running the licence plate of a woman’s boyfriend. That charge was dismissed as part of his plea agreement in the speeding ticket case.
The town of Mancos placed him on administrative leave Nov. 4, and he eventually resigned from the Marshal’s Office.
And in 2009, Cox was convicted of DUI after driving through a sobriety checkpoint in Franklin, Indiana, according to media reports.
Cox declined to comment Tuesday when reached on his cellphone.
On his most recent ticket, Cox’s occupation is listed as night supervisor at detox.
A supervisor for Detox of La Plata County, which is operated by Axis Health Systems Inc., did not return a phone call Tuesday seeking comment.
shane@durangoherald.com
