Through a public records request, Arlington Public Schools (APS) provided Defending Education with documents regarding Richard Cox, the registered sex offender who identifies as a woman and faces multiple charges for allegedly exposing his naked body in female locker rooms at the public school facilities.

The 58-year-old man faces more than 20 charges related to his visits to APS’s Washington Liberty High School and Wakefield High School pools, which are owned and operated by the school district and open to the public outside of school hours, as well as the county’s Barcroft Sports and Fitness Center.

Under the Arlington County and the APS policies, individuals are allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their chosen gender identity, enabling Cox to enter school and county female locker rooms.

According to the Arlington County Police Department, Cox exposed his genitals in the women’s locker room at Washington-Liberty High School pool on October 21, 2024, where he was arrested and charged with Indecent Exposure, Sex Offender on School or Day Car Property and Sex Offender Loiter Near School/Day Care/Park/Playground. Police log is here.

On October 28, Cox, who signed his name as Riki Cox, emailed the campaign email of current APS school board member Kathleen Clark about an “issue” that occurred on Friday, October 25.

I am a member of the LGBT and specifically transgender community. The issue is that transgender people including minors are disproportionately homeless and use places like the County swimming pools to shower. But let me be clear that this is not only an opportunity to be clean but to be and feel part of the community. However, solely because of complaints of a transgender person in the locker room, Washington Liberty Swimming Pool made a rule that people using the shower but not the pool must use the single, isolated locker room away from everyone else, like they are some kind of freak or something.

“If there is any complaint, then THAT person should be invited to use the single locker room,” Richard added. “Given the same choice, I am sure that they also will pick to remain with the community and learn to be inclusive with everyone else.

Cox said that if they are unable to do so, “then they are the ones that should be isolated before casting off me or other transgender people trying to be part of our community and not be treated like freaks.”

Clark responded, asking Richard if he was referring to policy and signage in the pools and to please forward her a picture for further research. She also touted her work for the queer and trans advocacy organization Turnout as Co-Chair of one of the Equality & Belonging groups at Gap Inc.

“We put together a transgender/non-binary competency training for our E&B teams last year to help educate folks on how to be supportive for their children and an ally to the community. I have some working understanding of what you shared with me and my expectation is that our community and school system are inclusive,” she said.

Cox followed up with Clark on October 31 to let her know that he was “offended by pool staff” at the Washington Liberty pool.

“They literally asked me how much longer I was going to be in the shower, and directed other patrons to use the individual changing room while I was in the full locker room,” he wrote. “This is again sending the message that a transgender person is a freak and I guess not normal and beautiful like everyone else. There are anti-discrimination laws on both the Federal, State, and County levels including in the Schools to prevent this kind of animosity. Are you going to increase the training of the Washington Liberty Pool staff and/or change their policies to be welcoming or inclusive, or should I be voting for someone else.”

In response, Clark responded to Cox and said she received an email because she is on a mailing list for the APS pools that she described as “shockingly inappropriate and incentive [sic],” specifically the portion that she highlighted that advised patrons that they should be “covering intimate body areas while using shared spaces.”

“Based on the information that you provided in your first email, I suspect that the locker room etiquette found in bullet #3 of the APS Aquatics Update email shown in the screenshot below was an issue,” she wrote. “I hope that you did not experience transphobic statements from the staff. You should be able to use the showers and changing rooms that you are most comfortable using.”

“I agree that training needs to happen and have already reached out to a leader in AGIA [Arlington Gender Identity Alliance] to alert them to the APS Aquatics Update email sent out to the county residents that use the pool,” she continued. “I have previously worked with Ms. Machado as the President of the Special Education PTA when we hosted community events at the pool, and I will follow-up with her directly. I also forwarded the email about the pools sent by Helena Machado to JD Spain and Zuraya, the two other democratic endorsed candidates that I am running with so that they are aware of the county pool email too.”

“It sounds to be like there are multiple issues taking place (1st, that Arlington County has unhoused young adults that deserve care, respect, and resources, and 2nd, that APS Pool staff needs training) – both of these issues require a broader audience than just school board candidate in order to be solved,” Clark concluded.

She shared resources to the AGIA Facebook page, Equality Arlington and PFLAG.

After this email exchange, Cox allegedly went on to repeat this behavior six times in both Fairfax and Arlington county facilities.

In January, Clark emailed Assistant Superintendent Catherine Ashby about the exchange between her and Cox, in which she appeared to criticize his motivation and framing, as well as the “disconnect” in processes between the high school and pool.

“It is concerning to me that 1) he appeared to come at this from the angel that he was or represented a minor hurt by the pool decision, 2) even after rereading the pool communication back in October, I find it particularly insensitive to actual minors that maybe have issues with secure housing, and 3) that there is such a disconnect in our processes between the HS safety protocols and that of the pool, at the same APS facility. I understand that has been remediated, but only after this type of situation occurred.”

“For the LBGTQIA+ community, this type of situation sets them back years. I hope that future APS/Media comms portrays this as an isolated incident with one known criminal and does not reflect the values of the greater LBGTQIA+ community.”

Clark also claimed “attorney client privilege” in this email despite neither she nor Ashby appearing to be practicing attorneys.