A Glenwood, Arkansas woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison after entering a plea of guilt in a Sevier County courtroom
arkadelphian.com
Brandy Cox entered a plea of guilty Thursday to Permitting Abuse of a Minor, a Class B felony punishable by 5-20 years in prison in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Circuit Judge Bryan Chesshir imposed the sentence.
Cox, 41, was arrested in December 2022 in connection with a case of raping young girls masterminded by former Arkansas physician Barry Walker. Investigators uncovered that Walker had, for at least two decades, drugged and raped at least 31 pre-pubescent girls and kept an organized video archive of the rapes.
Walker, a general contractor who also owned a real estate business at the time of his arrest, was convicted in 2022 in Pike and Clark counties of numerous charges and given 40 life sentences in prison. Cox, a niece of Walker’s, had been under Walker’s employ during the time of some years of the incidents.
Despite some of the victims telling Cox of what Walker had done to them, Cox didn’t report anything to the police because Walker had bribed her with money, a house, and promised to buy her dentures. Walker also blackmailed Cox with having her arrested if she told police about the rapes, according to court documents.
Cox was one of three other people charged in the aftermath of Walker’s arrest.
Walker’s brother, 60-year-old Bryce Walker, was acquitted of misdemeanor charges of failing to report after deliberations by a Pike County jury in October. Bryce Walker, an employee of Hot Springs School District, acknowledged that he did not report the allegations against his brother despite having knowledge of the sexual assaults, according to a police affidavit.
Cox and Bryce Walker — along with Barry Walker’s girlfriend Lori Cogburn and his niece, 9W Prosecutor Jana Bradford — remain defendants in a Clark County civil lawsuit filed by victims and their families seeking punitive damages because the plaintiffs allege the defendants conspired with Walker to keep the rapes mum.
Cogburn’s criminal case remains open. Bradford does not face any criminal charges.
In addition to the 10-year sentence Cox was given, she received 5 years suspended imposition of sentence and $1,250 in fines and costs. Her conditions of suspension include that she will complete counseling classes, parenting classes and substance abuse programming while in prison.
9E Prosecuting Attorney Dan Turner represented the state in the matter.