Ex-sheriff’s office employee found not guilty of molestation

DALTON — A former Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office animal control officer broke down in the arms of his attorney after a jury found him not guilty of child molestation and other charges on Friday after a 10-day trial in Superior Court.

Attorney Brian Steel said after two years of fighting the charges, Kelly Cox was “delighted with the verdicts.”

“Kelly is such a gentleman and when the verdict was read, he cried in my arms when it was over,” Steel said. “We worked extremely hard and I am delighted that the verdict was proper. We will never be able to thank the jury enough.”

Cox was found not guilty by the jury of three counts of child molestation, aggravated sodomy, incest and cruelty to a child in the first degree. Judge William T. Boyett presided over the trial. Through Steel, Cox declined to make any further statements.

“Kelly never committed any crimes whatsoever,” Steel said. “He was falsely charged. I believe Kelly will do great things in his life and continue to help others. This goes to show that anybody can be falsely charged with a crime. I hope he speaks out about it and talks with others, and this is why a jury is so important. A jury is in the best position to state whether a person is guilty or not guilty and it has to be proven.”

Cox was arrested in August of 2015 after the sheriff’s office turned a Division of Family and Children Services investigation over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Steel said the charges against Cox were made by his then-wife for allegations that he was molesting her 8-yearold child from a previous relationship. Steel said the two had a “terrible marriage.” He said when the woman and state forensic interviewers were crossexamined, “there were inconsistencies, and the jurors rendered the correct verdict.”

Chris Whitfield, Dalton Daily Citizen