Ex-Park Tudor coach Kyle Cox pleads guilty

Former Park Tudor School basketball coach Kyle Cox pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to a charge of coercion or enticement for exchanging explicit text messages with a 15-year-old student.

Senior Judge Larry McKinney scheduled his sentencing for 10 a.m. July 14.

Cox, 31, appeared before the judge in a black suit, and gave brief answers of "yes, sir" when the judge questioned whether he understood the proceedings. His parents watched from the gallery.

Cox earlier this month filed a petition in court that said he agreed to plead guilty to a charge of coercion or enticement, and would not seek a sentence of fewer than 10 years in prison. In exchange, prosecutors said they would not seek a punishment of more than 14 years in a federal facility.

The parties, though, did not agree on a specific sentence within that range. At the sentencing hearing, Cox's attorney, Jim Voyles, will likely argue for the minimum sentence noted in the agreement, with prosecutors asking for a longer stint.

The judge does not have to sentence Cox to a term that falls within the range in the plea agreement. The sentencing range for the offense is 10 years to life in prison.

The plea marks the beginning of the closing of Cox's case, which thrust Park Tudor, a prestigious private school in Indianapolis, into scandal.

While he served as basketball coach at the school, Cox coerced a 15-year-old female student into exchanging sexual text messages and Snapchat messages with him, a federal criminal complaint alleges. He engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her over several months, prosecutors allege, and invited her to his home to have sex with him while his family was out of town.

The plan was foiled, though, the complaint alleges, when the girl's father discovered the text messages and informed Park Tudor administrators.

Park Tudor came under fire for the administration's handling of the allegations, as the federal complaint hinted that administrators may have hindered the police investigation, and not followed proper reporting procedures mandated amid accusations of child abuse. The head of school, Matthew D. Miller, committed suicide in January, before the allegations were made public.

Officials, parents frustrated with Park Tudor's handling of Kyle Cox probe

The complaint says the girl's father showed school officials an array of screenshots of explicit messages between Cox and his daughter in December. An attorney for the school took the material to his office and made copies overnight before returning them to the school, according to court documents. The next day, the school filed a report with the Department of Child Services that was lacking in detail, the documents say.

The school asked Cox to resign, and he signed a confidentiality agreement with the school, court documents say.

Park Tudor parents sent the Marion County prosecutor an anonymous letter that voiced concern that the case was not being investigated.

Cox was a basketball standout at Blue River High School in Henry County, and he played golf and basketball at Ball State University.

Call IndyStar reporter Madeline Buckley at (317) 444-6083. Follow her on Twitter:@Mabuckley88.

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