Matthew and Sheryl Cox arraigned on 89 counts of child abuse

Bernalillo County couple were arrested after police said they sexually abused their own children.
Police said Matthew and Sheryl Cox, of Sandia Park, molested and encouraged their children to have sex with them.
Investigators said the story came to light when one of the couple's children told a family member, who then told police.
"That's gross; pretty crazy. I didn't think that they were like that," neighbor Michael Garcia said.
Sgt. Rachel Azbil said that police are still trying to piece together the whole story.
Court documents said the parents molested their 16 year-old daughter and two younger children, ages 12 and 14.
The documents also state that the kids told police the parents are nudists and asked them to attend family meetings naked.
Their 16-year-old daughter allegedly said that her parents constantly rub on private parts and have encouraged her and her younger siblings to have sex with them, according to the documents.
"Basically, this family was leaning towards incest and that the father and mother were suggesting this is where this family should land at," Azbil said.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office said that police are searching the house for evidence to support the allegations.
A representative for the Children, Youth & Families Department said that they have been looking into similar allegations in August 2009. They said that there was not enough information available to prove any neglect or abuse.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office said the couple were arrested last year for giving alcohol to minors.
The couple is being held without bond and are expected to appear in court Thursday.

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More details have surfaced about an East Mountains couple accused of engaging in sexual behavior with young relatives.

Matthew and Sheryl Cox were arrested last year for giving alcohol to underage family members as young as 11. But this time it’s nudity with minors, sexual contact, and trying to convince family members to engage in incest.

“The parents are touching the children and encouraging the children to touch each other,” said Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Rachel Azbill.

Matthew and Sheryl Cox are both at the center of what is being called an abusive household, subjecting children to bizarre beliefs.

“The family meetings that everybody is mandated to attend at six in the morning; they must attend naked and that’s where the touching would occur,” Azbill continued.

The official criminal complaint goes further, saying Matthew would fondle the girls and that Sheryl would caress the boys. Much of this information comes from the couple themselves. “They were fairly open about what they believe and this seems [to be] some type of ritualistic lifestyle,” said Azbill.

KOB Eyewitness News 4 spoke with the couple’s son-in-law, Jonathan Grider, who married their eldest daughter. What did she say about being raised in the family? “Her upbringing was the stiff, staunch Christian girls wear dresses, boys wear pants,” said Grider.

He says he has no idea where the allegations came from and says he considers Matthew Cox a moral and noble man. “He’s just real empowering to their self-motivation,” Grider added.

According to Matthew Cox’s own website, he is a life coach and instructs others on how to make their lives better. Much of his focus is on his own family and says his “desire” is to create a family of 50 people to “make the world a better place.”

According to investigators, this home was anything but a good place for the children here.

“They were basically punished, they were required to write essays pages long and explain why they don’t want to participate in these activities,” said Azbill.

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The Sandia Park nudist couple accused of fondling their children and encouraging incest will need to come up with $1 million to get out of jail.

A judge on Thursday set cash bonds of a $500,000 apiece for Matthew and Sheryl Cox.

Three of their kids told investigators their father would make them gather for naked family circles each morning where they were directed to touch each other sexually.

Those kids are now with relatives.

The couple also has five adult children who still live at home.

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Matthew Cox runs a life-coaching business. KOB Eyewintess News 4 found Cox has been trying to recruit 24 fellow life-coaches who would be required to pay his enterprise one-thousand dollars a month.

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My Vision

In the summer of 1984, I attend a seminar in the Baltimore, Maryland Civic Center. As I listen to the material, a desire grows within me. It impresses me. It excites me. It emotionally charges me.

More than twenty years later, this desire is still with me. It is a driving, compelling desire. It is the desire of creating a family of fifty people in three generations to make the world a better place.

Specifically, we make our world a better place by exploring how individuals may have and maintain Peace of Mind. We know that individual peace leads to community peace and community peace leads to world peace.

This website tells our story. It relays lessons ave learned. It documents our adventures. It links to other websites that accompany our story.

You are not here by accident. You are here because you also want to improve the quality of life for the world - or at least your little part of it.

The first thing for you to do is subscribe to our email newsletter. We send it whenever I make a new post to my blog. My blog keeps you updated on our adventures and the related lessons. Once you subscribe and we approve your subscription, you may update your profile to receive the topics you want to read. Click here to subscribe.

In addition, I invite you to use the links on this page to browse the site - especially my blog where I write about business ownership, parenting, dreamosophy, and anything else on my mind.

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You may already know me as Sheri Cox, AKA, "The Desert Rose" but there is more, much more to my life. It includes a large family, multiple businesses and an internal philosophy that makes each day an absolute joy.

I co-own Southwest Lifestyle with Matthew Cox. He and I married in 1986. We both wanted a large family so we started having children right away. We now have eight children. plus a son-in-law and our first grandson was born in February of 2008. You may learn more about our entire family at Matt's website MatthewCCox.com.

In the early years of our marriage, my work as a wife and mother kept me very busy. Besides the everyday tasks of motherhood, I was responsible for educating our children at home. However, as the children got older, I realized I needed an outlet to develop my own identity, and be more than "just" a home school mom.

Our Businesses

We decided that a home based business would be best so we joined a network marketing company in 1995. After several years of part-time work with that company, Matt was offered a position in marketing with a gourmet food company. He took that job in 2001 and after several months there, he was given the responsibility of starting Megan's Pantry, a new network marketing company featuring gourmet food.

We realized if I needed to develop personally, other women did too. Unfortunately, the new company's owners didn't share his vision and Megan's Pantry closed after six month's. Matt looked for other ways to develop our vision while fulfilling his responsibilities with his employer.

This page tells you how we discovered the products that became Southwest Lifestyle Body Care Products while presenting gourmet food at an arts and crafts festival. We decided to start Southwest Lifestyle as our "Plan B" in case Matt could not find a long-term solution to the gourmet food business.

Surprisingly, in December of 2002, a new ownership group decided to resurrect Megan's Pantry and offered Matt a position as partner. That ownership group had a customer base that needed guidance and direction. Matt's vision was alive again and we worked with the new partners for a year while keeping our "Plan B" alive also. Eighteen months later, in July 2004, we reached an agreement to buy out the new ownership group. Megan's Pantry had come full circle. Matt helped start the company and now, he was the majority owner.

Southwest Lifestyle slipped into the background while we put our attention into Megan's Pantry. We developed systems, used the body care products, and knew that a day would come when we could focus more attention on Southwest Lifestyle. That time is now.

Our Philosophy

Matthew and I were first attracted to the Southwest Lifestyle over twenty years ago. We were living in North Carolina at the time but the magic and abundance of the Southwestern United States attracted us to New Mexico. In April of 1987, we packed up our twin baby boys and our possessions to move west. The lifestyle we found in New Mexico was different from anything we had previously experienced. It brought Peace of Mind to our Personal Life, Relationships and Finances.

We identified three laws that make up the foundation of this lifestyle. These are universal laws but it is our observation they receive more acceptance in the Southwestern United States than other places. Maybe it is the Native American culture. Maybe the open spaces. Maybe it is the climate. Whatever the reason; this part of the world has a greater acceptance of these universal laws. As a result, we call using these laws Living the Southwest Lifestyle. You may learn more about the Laws of the Southwest Lifestyle at Matt's website MatthewCCox.com. Other resources are available in the training portion of this site.

Our Symbols

Southwestern symbols are rich with tradition and history. Each symbol is interpreted based on the context.

Our logo, created by a Native American artist, represents the elements of our world. Here is what is means to us.

There are numerous symbols in our logo. Our friends and Customers often show us symbolism that we had not previously recognized.

To us, the artwork in the Southwest Lifestyle Logo represents the four elements of our world: Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.

Earth - This symbol occurs seventeen times in the interior of the letter "O" in the Southwest Lifestyle logo. It represents Mankind. The physical makeup of a human is similar to physical makeup of the Earth.

Wind - This symbol occurs seventeen times on the exterior of the letter "O" in the Southwest Lifestyle logo. It represents the joining of spirit or brotherhood. Native Americans sometimes used this to represent a whirlwind. To us, it is a symbol for the spirit (wind) that must inhabit Mankind for life to exist.

Fire - This symbol is the center of the letter "O" in the the Southwest Lifestyle logo. It represents the Sun, a living ball of fire.

Water - This symbol is a separator between the words of the Southwest Lifestyle logo. It represents a flowing stream of water. Water is necessary to sustain life, especially in the desert Southwest.

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Family
Sheri, Emmanuel, Peter, Mary, Paul, Deborah, Naomi, Esther, Daniel

The first step of "creating a family of 50 people in three generations to make a powerful impact on the world and make it a better place" is building relationships within a family.

My wife, Sheri, and I were married on January 1, 1986 in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. As of May 21, 2010, the day this page was updated, we have 8 children, 2 with partners, and 2 grandchildren.

This page has links to pages for my wife and each of our children.

In the future, look for a section, written by our children, called Parenting From a Teen's Point of View

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The bond for the two of them is $1,000,000 CASH only.

According to the criminal complaint, Matthew Cox had recently been chatting with an incestuous family in Texas who was encouraging the group to enter into that lifestyle. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is now working to remove computers, disks and other items from the couple’s home to investigate for evidence.

KOB Eyewitness News 4 spoke with the couple’s son-in-law, Jonathan Grider, who married their eldest daughter. He says these allegations are not true.

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The man whose daughter and son-in-law are accused of sexually abusing their three children said he's heartbroken by the allegations.
Lawrence Beaty is father of Sheryl Cox.
Members of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department searched the Coxes' home Wednesday night in connection to claims that the parents abused their children.
Sheryl and Matthew Cox were arrested and booked into the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center. Both made their first appearance in court on Thursday.
Beaty said some of the allegations made by his grandchildren didn’t come as a surprise.
"I was suspecting and had been for some time," Beaty said. "We had some senses that there was some impropriety ...Things were not right."
Beaty said he had no solid proof, but noticed some awkward behavior.
"When women walk between [Matthew Cox] and the TV, he says 'If you're going to be the center of attention, take your clothes off.'"
Sherly and Matthew Cox met in college in North Carolina. Beaty said he blames his son-in-law for his daughter's behavior.
"She would never have went this way if she was by herself," Beaty said.
Beaty said his grandchildren are suffering.
"My 16-year-old has gotten to the point that if it's home or suicide, it will be suicide," Beaty said. "The other two are very, very confused."
All he can do now is try to help his grandchildren get through this tough time, Beaty said.

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This sounds like a very strange family! From what they wrote (in the previous posts), and from their pictures, they look like decent people. I wonder if these allegations are true, or if some of their children are rebelling & making false accusations? Very strange!!

What gets me is that the Grandfather said he believed the allegations and it was reported that Matthew was "chatting with an incestuous family in Texas who was encouraging the group to enter into that lifestyle".

That is what they all claim is they are innocent. I am glad the Grand Father believes and supports his Grand Children. One of the biggest fears for a child that has been sexually abused is the fear of not being believed so they don't tell.

The arrest of Lawrence Beaty's daughter Sheryl Cox and her husband Matthew is bittersweet--mostly bitter--but he says the youngest relatives are now safe.

"At least they've opened the door so we can get to the truth. It was not a surprise," said Beaty. He believes Sheryl and Matthew went wrong when he says they walked away from their Christian faith. He thinks it was then that things started to change for the worst."I could not do anything about it because I did not have any concrete evidence," Beaty continued.

That evidence didn't come to light until one of the teenagers came forward. After Beaty says she started going to a church youth group. "She started seeing the truth, she started seeing the lies that she had been fed and she realized this is not normal, so she finally said 'I can't take it anymore' and she got close to the point of suicide."

"She said 'I have to do something'," said Beaty. That something launched Wednesday's massive investigation into the Cox home--Beaty believes it exposed child molestation, endangerment and perversion. All of these charges falling on Matthew Cox and Beaty's daughter, Sheryl.

"This is my little girl that's in jail now. What would you think if your little girl was sitting in jail looking at charges like these?" he asked.

In the meantime, he hopes to help the youngest relatives recover from what he calls an abusive past.

"My choice is to see how we can go forward. How we can recover them, if that's possible," said Beaty.

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09 Dec 2010

It looked like a normal enough house on the outside, but Bernalillo County deputies said what went on inside was shocking.

Neighbors in Sandia Park agree.

"I'm just very surprised because we've known them since we moved here," neighbor Pam Gravage said.

She had no idea Sheryl and Mathew Cox were nudists. BCSO Sergeant Rachel Azbill said that is just the beginning.

"The parents are touching the children, and encouraging the children to touch each other," Azbill said.

Deputies were called to the home near Frost and Pine Ridge two weeks ago after the Cox's teenage daughter told a relative her parents were fondling her.

Three of the children told investigators Mathew Cox would make the family meet each morning in a circle naked, where all of them, male and female, were encouraged to touch each others genitals. Investigators said the children who refused suffered the consequences.

"They were basically punished," Sgt. Azbill said. "They were required to write essays, pages long, explaining why they didn't want to participate in these activities."

One of the young teens told deputies their father would take nude family portraits, but later destroyed them fearing authorities would find out what they were doing. Sgt. Azbill said the parents admitted to touching their naked children, saying it was part of what their family did.

"These people think that this is right and that they are basically allowed to do this and lead their children and direct their children as they see fit," she said.

The teenage children also told investigators their dad had been chatting online with a family in Texas to get advice on how to take their family rituals to the next level.

"We believe it has gotten to the point where they were trying to direct this family to go down the incest road," Sgt. Azbill said.

Deputies said the father told the children he had condoms in the house so that if they did move on to incest, they would not have to worry about the girls in the family getting pregnant.

Deputies said they have been to the Cox's house before. Both mom and dad were arrested last year for giving booze to their children. They are in a lot more trouble this time. Both face a slew of sex and child abuse charges.

Matthew and Sheryl Cox are behind bars on a no-bond hold. Five of their children are adults that still live a the home. CYFD took custody of the other three children who range in age from 12 to 16-years-old.

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The Sandia Park couple accused of forcing young relatives to attend nude meetings where they were then forced to engage in sexual behavior, appeared before a judge Tuesday.

Matthew and Sheryl Cox were arrested in December after authorities received reports that the East Mountain couple had sexually abused three young relatives.

The young relatives told authorities the couple forced all family members to attend morning ritualistic meetings in the nude where they claimed the two would touch family members on the genitals and forced other relatives to touch one another inappropriately.

Three minors were removed from the home in November after the allegations first surfaced.

Several family members and supporters filled the courts benches Tuesday as the couple was arraigned before a judge on 89 counts each of child abuse.

Matthew and Sheryl Cox have been held on a $100,000 cash or surety bond.

The Coxes are expected to bond out as early as Tuesday evening. They will be free to return home until their trial date, although neither of them will be permitted to have any contact with the relatives involved in the case.

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Sandia Park couple accused of molesting their children could soon be out of jail, according to the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office.
A judge lowered the bond to $100,000 each for Matthew Cox and Sheryl Cox.

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Matthew Cox, who along with his wife, Sheryl, has been accused of committing sexual crimes against his own children, has written a novel about being held on molestation charges.

In the book, “Growing Softly Stronger in the Cracked Places,” Cox writes about leading his family in a nude lifestyle at their Sandia Park home. It was written against the advice of his lawyer, he wrote.

The book has been published electronically. Cox made a copy of the manuscript available to the Mountain View Telegraph.

Cox writes about the family meetings he and his wife held with their kids in the nude starting in 2006. The charges against the Coxes also date to alleged acts dating to 2006.

The couple was arrested on Dec. 8, 2010, and spent time behind bars, up until they were able to post bail, which was reduced from $500,000 to $100,000 on Jan. 18, according to court documents.

Cox and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the charges. No trial date has been set.

He also writes at length in the book about how people are judged by the public as guilty of a crime long before their day in court.

“This is a misunderstanding. Our conversations have been misconstrued into criminal actions,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “… Certain parts of the religious right (say) that any kind of nudity or any kind of open conversation about sexuality is evil, and so, to them, this is a very controversial issue.”

Kayla Anderson, a spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, said prosecutors were not aware of the book.

In the book, Cox writes about a belief system related to the crimes he is accused of and makes several references to his relationship with his family.

“We practiced open (naked) communication, learned that nudity was NOT about sex and often hugged one another as a way of saying ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye.’ … We could practice a naked lifestyle in a safe environment without worrying about accusations of sexual abuse and without worries of sexual activity between family members,” he writes in the book.

“I should stop here and say that when I use the word ‘sexual’ in the above paragraph, I’m referring to actions that lead to orgasm, In other words, conscious, purposeful actions along with communication that says, ‘I want to be your sexual partner.’ We taught our children that sex should always be consensual …”

Cox also writes about meditating and using astral travel, a kind of out-of-body experience, to communicate with his family while incarcerated. And he devotes quite a bit of the book to how his spiritual beliefs helped him through his incarceration.

“That’s why it is written as a novel,” he said in the phone interview. “My intent is to show the pain of the situation and how to respond to it, not to tell the story of the case.

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A powerfully gripping book based on a true story...

How does a “normal” person become incarcerated for hugging their children and still come out of the experience with strong positive feelings?

How would anyone react to...
...being arrested and handcuffed
...upheaval of a family with eight children
...removal of children from the home
...betrayal by extended family
...unfounded accusations and indictment?
This is a remarkable story of the dramatic events of this family chronicled by a man with the courage to share his story.