<p>A former aide to Mayor Shirley Franklin was sentenced Monday to two years in prison and five years probation for soliciting sex from a teenage boy he picked up at the bus station.</p><p>Gary Cox was Franklin's deputy chief operating officer before being arrested in September 2003. He was convicted Oct. 1 of two felony charges, solicitation of sodomy and pandering, and misdemeanor sexual battery.</p><p>Cox, who also must register as a sex offender, was sentenced under the state's first offender program, but if he violates any terms of the probation he could be ordered to prison for at least 20 years.</p><p>Cox testified that he was simply trying to help then-16-year-old Greg Martin out when the boy ended up stranded in Atlanta with no money.</p><p>Martin asked Cox for money to buy food. Cox told the teen he didn't have money on him and offered to take him to his house and give him money there, according to the initial report.</p><p>Martin told jurors that at Cox's home, the former city official sexually propositioned him. The teen said he rejected the man's requests, which came first with an offer of a payment of $100 for oral sex and then a $50 offer to watch the boy undress.</p><p>The boy testified that Cox touched him in the groin area and gave him his city business card when he returned the boy to the bus station.</p><p>Cox said he did not proposition the boy or touch him inappropriately.</p>
