(The Center Square) – Virginia’s only governor’s debate turned to school policies after a report revealed a registered sex offender repeatedly accessed girls’ locker rooms in Arlington Public Schools and county pools.
Through a public records request, Defending Education published emails showing Richard “Riki” Cox, 58, corresponded with an Arlington School Board member in 2024 after pool staff asked him to use a single-use facility.
“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,” Cox wrote.
Cox, who identifies as a woman, faces more than 20 charges related to exposing himself in female locker rooms at Washington-Liberty High School, Wakefield High School and county facilities.
Arlington officials said that under county and APS policies, individuals were allowed to use restrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity.
In a statement provided to The Center Square, Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry said:
“Only in Arlington Public Schools, long beholden to transgender madness, could a registered sex offender expose himself in two different high school locker rooms shared by young girls and shortly thereafter correspond with school board members to complain about the putatively insensitive treatment he received.
“Richard Cox complained to school board member Kathleen Clark that he had been treated like a ‘freak’ and offended by pool staff when they asked him how long he planned to loiter in the locker room and instructed other patrons to single-use locker rooms.
“Inconceivably, after these email exchanges, Cox went on to expose himself six more times before his ultimate arrest.”
The revelations came hours after Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears sparred over conflicting positions on transgender policies in schools, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2022 guidelines requiring students to use school facilities based on biological sex.
Spanberger did not say whether she would rescind the policy. Instead, she said such decisions should be made locally by parents, teachers and administrators.
Earle-Sears said she would keep the policy, arguing that “girls deserve privacy in sports and locker rooms.”
Asked if transgender students are a safety threat, she pointed to “biological differences in size and strength.”
After the WJLA story, Earle-Sears posted Cox’s photo on social media, writing:
“This ‘woman’ — child predator Richard ‘Riki’ Cox — repeatedly used a girls’ locker room and exposed himself to young girls. Abigail Spanberger thinks he has the right to be there.”
Youngkin also weighed in, writing on X, “While Abigail Spanberger stood with her running mate Jay Jones and his murderous fantasies, and evaded every direct question, including equivocating over men being in locker rooms with girls.”
The locker room revelations added urgency to a debate already dominated by cultural issues, rising energy prices and Virginia’s economy.
A Spanberger spokesperson responded in a statement to The Center Square:
“Convicted sex offender Richard Cox is a predator who should be in jail – and that’s exactly where he is.
“Abigail is a parent of three daughters in Virginia public schools and a former federal law enforcement officer who went after child predators – nothing is more important to her than the safety of Virginia’s kids.
“As Governor, Abigail will work with state and local law enforcement officers to keep Virginia kids safe and make sure sex offenders are prevented from preying on children and are prosecuted for their crimes.”
