A registered sex offender wanted since March was found crouched in the backseat of a parked car at West Rockingham Elementary School, hidden behind a sheet draped over the window, according to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Deputies arrested 37-year-old Michael Wayne Cox Jr. without incident Thursday after responding to a call that a man with an outstanding warrant for failing to register as a sex offender was sitting in the student pickup line.
Deputies were called to the school after someone reported a man with an outstanding warrant at the pickup line, according to the Queen City News. Court documents cited by the station say Cox was found sitting in the backseat of a parked vehicle, with a sheet covering the back passenger-side window to conceal him. Officials served him with the outstanding warrant on the spot, the station reports, and he was charged with being a sex offender on school property before being booked into the Richmond County jail on a secured bond of $50,000.
A Warrant Seven Months in the Making
Cox had been wanted since March 17, 2026, on a warrant for failing to return an address verification form to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, according to the Richmond Observer. That means he had been an active fugitive on a registry violation for roughly seven months before deputies located him at the school. The newspaper also reports a discrepancy in the paperwork: arrest warrants filed in October 2026 listed Cox's address on Sycamore Lane in Rockingham, while his entry on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry officially listed his address as unknown. He is scheduled to appear in court on October 29.
Failing to register, failing to report an address change, or failing to return an address verification notice is classified as a Class F felony under North Carolina law, according to Justia Law. Separately, state statute bars registered sex offenders convicted of crimes against minors from knowingly being present on any school property, including parking lots, athletic fields, or school buses, regardless of whether they have a child enrolled there, per the Aggie Academy policy.
A Long History of Registry Violations
Cox was placed on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry in May 2016 following his 2016 conviction on five counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor, stemming from an offense in 2012 involving a 9-year-old child when Cox was 23. He served nearly three years in state prison after a probation revocation in 2018 and was imprisoned again in September 2022 for failing to notify law enforcement of address changes, before his release on parole in March 2024, with that parole term set to run through March 1, 2025.
A pending charge accused him of being a sex offender on child premises after an alleged sighting at Hamlet Middle School during a softball practice.
Open Questions About the Vehicle
Court records noting that Cox was found draped under a sheet in the backseat of the vehicle raise unresolved legal questions about whether the driver or vehicle owner could face scrutiny under a separate North Carolina statute that makes it a Class H felony for a person who has reason to believe a sex offender is in violation to intend to assist the offender in eluding arrest, according to FindLaw.
West Rockingham Elementary School is in Rockingham. Sheriff Mark Gulledge said his office remains committed to protecting students, school personnel, and the community, a message that follows other recent child-safety enforcement by his agency, including the Marston man charged last month with soliciting children online, amid a statewide surge in child exploitation tips.
