Through public records requests, Kendall Tietz says Arlington Public Schools provided Defending Education documents about Richard "Riki" Cox, a tier III sex offender who reportedly visited a number of female private spaces in 2024.
He has admitted to using the women's locker rooms at Arlington's Washington Liberty High School, Wakefield High School, and Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center, as well as in Fairfax County Planet Fitness locations and Fairfax County's Oakmont Rec Center, Audrey Moore Rec, and Franconia Rec Center.
Cox, who identifies as a woman, faces more than 20 charges related to his visits to the local pools, which, like the county's rec center, "are owned and operated by the school district and open to the public outside of school hours."
ABC 7 reports some of the charges are for indecent liberties with children and possession of child pornography, but the district's policies allowed him to enter the school and county female locker rooms.
The documents Tietz's organization acquired reveal Cox had reached out to a school board member named Kathleen Clark "to basically see how he should vote based on what he deemed offensive treatment by the staff when he attempted to shower in one of these locker rooms."
Based off their email conversation, Clark supported Cox, though it is unclear if she knew "Riki" was a registered sex offender during the exchange.
"[She] basically said, 'I'm in favor of you using the restrooms and locker rooms that align with your gender identity,'" Tietz relays.
Clark also expressed her hope that Cox did not face any "transphobic" statements from the staff at the public schools' facilities.
At the time, it was not the district's policy to check the sex offender registry for visitor's names before allowing them pool and locker room access.
At a February 2025 school board meeting, the Arlington County superintendent claimed that immediate action was taken to address community concerns about the Cox locker room incidents.
The policy has changed slightly, but the district still does not check identification.
"We do use a visitor scanning system for individuals and families who have memberships and passes for fitness and programs," the county states. "But in an effort to maintain open and accessible community centers, the county does not check IDs at each entry point."
