Problems with Nick Cottone at Seneca Ridge Middle School

The Neutralized Defense: When Your Own Lawyer Admits the "Arrest Goal" and Tells You Not to Fight Published: January 27, 2026 In the "Tripartite Nexus" of Loudoun County—where school administrators, law enforcement, and private counsel coordinate to silence parents—the most devastating blow doesn't always come from the opposition. Sometimes, it comes from within your own camp. The Admission In December 2023, as the "Warning Call" from Deputy Iversen was being prepared, I was represented by John Whitbeck . During our discussions regarding the legal billing from Troxell Leigh P.C. (Lindsay Mohler), Whitbeck made a stunning admission. He told me explicitly that the goal of the "Nexus"—the coordinated effort between my ex-wife, her counsel, LCPS, and LCSO—was to have me "charged with a crime and arrested." The Abandonment Despite having actual knowledge that a private law firm was using government infrastructure to engineer a false ar...

  TO:   Dr. Aaron Spence (Superintendent); Shontel Simon (Executive Leadership); Lisa Boland (HR);   legal@lcps.org ;   LCSB@lcps.org   (School Board); Tedra Richardson (Student Services); Rae Mitchell (Legal Services);   ombuds@lcps.org ; Maryellen Clarke (LCSO FOIA) DATE:  January 26, 2026 RE:  Notice of Digital Harassment – Causal Nexus to VFOIA Request R002480-012526 To the LCPS Executive Leadership, School Board, and LCSO FOIA Office: I am writing to formally document a coordinated act of digital harassment and counter-surveillance conducted by an agent of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) in direct response to my investigative activities and formal records requests. The Temporal Proximity: January 25, 2026:  I submitted a formal VFOIA request ( Ref: R002480-012526 ) targeting all communications between private attorneys  Lindsay Mohler/Gareth Bowen (Troxell Leigh P.C.)  and LCPS administration. January 26, 2026: ...

The Long Arm of Loudoun: Retired LCSO Senior Officer Surfaces in Orlando to "Monitor" Whistleblower Published: January 26, 2026 The "Tripartite Nexus" has gone interstate. As documented in my previous post, Senior Officer Dave Carver monitored my LinkedIn profile exactly 24 hours after I filed a forensic VFOIA request for communications between Troxell Leigh P.C. and the LCPS executive leadership. This followed my January 24, 2026, announcement that the Virginia FOIA Council has opened a formal case (#23) into the "residency" hurdles being used to block my investigation. The Florida-Virginia Pipeline Why is a retired officer in Florida snooping on a parent and investigative journalist in a Loudoun County, Virginia, dispute? This is the definition of Extralegal Surveillance . It strongly suggests that active-duty officials at LCSO or LCPS—reeling from a state-level investigation into their gatekeeping—are "deputizing" retired colleagues to cond...

The Watchers are Watching: LCSO Senior Officers Begin Digital Monitoring of Whistleblower Published: January 26, 2026 It appears the "Tripartite Nexus" is feeling the heat. Following my recent reports on the "Iversen Scrub" and my formal escalation to the Virginia FOIA Council—which was officially accepted and added to the state’s opinion queue on January 24, 2026 —the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has moved from administrative tolling to active professional monitoring. Today, I was notified that Senior Officer Dave Carver of the LCSO is now "snooping" through my LinkedIn profile. The Temporal Proximity: 24 Hours After the Executive Net was Cast This monitoring did not occur in a vacuum. It began exactly one day after I submitted a massive VFOIA request (Ref: R002480-012526 ) to LCPS. This request targets all correspondence between private attorneys Lindsay Mohler and Gareth Bowen of Troxell Leigh P.C. and the highest levels of LCPS administration, ...

Casting the Executive Net: New VFOIA Request Targets High-Level Collusion in Loudoun Published: January 25, 2026 The "Information Blackout" in Loudoun County is about to face its most significant challenge yet. While the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office attempts to "toll" my requests for residency reasons, and LCPS HRTD continues to use a "Jurisdictional Pivot" to evade accountability, I have officially expanded the forensic search area. Today, I filed a comprehensive VFOIA request targeting the communication nexus between private legal entities and the highest levels of LCPS leadership. The Target: Private Counsel and Public Duty This request specifically seeks all correspondence involving Lindsay Mohler and Gareth Bowen of Troxell Leigh P.C. These are private attorneys who, evidence suggests, have been operating in a "Tripartite Nexus" with school administrators to facilitate the alienation of parental rights and the suppression of whistleblo...

The Forensic Scrub: How LCPS and LCSO Dismantled the Evidence in Loudoun Published: January 25, 2026 For over two years, I have pursued accountability for the extrajudicial "Warning Call" conducted by Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Deputy Timothy Iversen on December 12, 2023. Today, I can reveal a pattern of forensic scrubbing that links LCPS Human Resources directly to the sudden removal of this officer. The Administrative Trap: February 19, 2025 On February 17, 2025, I filed a formal complaint regarding the "Tripartite Nexus" between school administrators and law enforcement. Two days later, HRTD Investigator Devina Martin issued a response claiming my concerns regarding the Cottone/Iversen nexus had been "previously addressed" (Guardian HRTD Workforce Complaint Case #12731). At the time of her email, I had received no findings, no apology, and no remediation. Furthermore, Deputy Iversen was still actively serving as the SRO at Seneca Ridge Mi...

  Title: Scrubbing the Evidence: How Loudoun Officials "Addressed" a Constitutional Crisis Published: January 24, 2026 In the bureaucracy of Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), "addressing" a concern rarely means fixing a problem. Instead, as my recent forensic discovery reveals, it often means scrubbing the evidence. For over two years, I have pursued accountability for the events of December 12, 2023, when a Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Deputy used his state authority to conduct an extrajudicial "Warning Call" to my personal phone—an act of intimidation with no legal basis, warrant, or underlying investigation. The Administrative Trap: February 19, 2025 On February 17, 2025, I filed a formal workforce complaint via the LCPS "Guardian" system regarding the collusion between school administrators and law enforcement. Two days later, on February 19, HRTD Investigator Devina Martin responded with a stunning admission: she claimed my c...

Title: State Oversight Initiated: Virginia FOIA Council Takes Up Case Against Loudoun Sheriff’s Office Published: January 24, 2026 The "Information Blackout" in Loudoun County just hit a major federal and state roadblock. Earlier today, I reported that the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) and FOIA Coordinator Maryellen Clarke attempted to "toll" my investigation into the December 12 "Warning Call." Despite my providing Virginia tax records and vehicle registrations, LCSO claimed they could not "verify" my residency—a move made less than 24 hours after I exposed the "Tripartite Nexus" of collusion on this blog. Breaking News: The State Steps In I can now confirm that the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council has formally accepted my request for a written Advisory Opinion. My challenge to LCSO’s gatekeeping is now officially Opinion Request #23 . The Council’s decision to move to a formal written opinion is a significan...

The Gatekeepers of Loudoun: How LCSO Uses "Administrative Tolling" to Block Whistleblowers Published: January 22, 2026 Last night, I published a forensic deep dive into the "Tripartite Nexus"—the documented collusion between the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS), and the private law firm Troxell Leigh P.C. The response from the Sheriff’s Office was swift, but not in the way of transparency. This morning, LCSO FOIA Coordinator Maryellen Clarke issued a notice to "toll" (pause) my request for records regarding Deputy Timothy Iversen and the December 12 "Warning Call." The Pretext: The Residency Trap Despite my providing objective, government-issued evidence of my standing in the Commonwealth—including Virginia tax records and Virginia vehicle registration —Ms. Clarke has ruled these insufficient to verify residency. This is a classic "Gatekeeping" tactic. By refusing to accept standard benchmar...

LCPS and Dan Adams FOIA Officer continue to maintain a program of purposeful and willful obfuscation of providing evidence of administrative fraud and tripartitie collusion between Nick Cottone, LCPS, LCSO, and Troxel Leigh P.C.  Dan Adams has committed major violations of FOIA by prohibiting me, an investigative blogger, from inspecting important documents detailing administrative fraud, and tripartite collusion between LCSO, LCPS, and Troxel Leigh P.C. to have me falsely charged with a crime and my parental rights revoked.  I have a right to these documents as a parent of multiple students attending LCPS. Additionally, given these documents pertain directly to me, I am owed the ability to review and inspect these documents as they have been used to make educational decisions about my children without my knowledge or approval. Therefore, LCPS has violated my FERPA rights, as well as the educational rights I and my children are afforded under Virginia Educational law due to an...

Dan Adams and LCPS continue to violate my rights as a parent, tax payer of Loudoun County, and investigative blogger, in order to purposefully and willfully prevent the exposure of administrative fraud and tripartite collusion between LCPS, LCSO, and Troxel Leigh P.C. to manufacture legal proceedings against me in order to have my parental rights revoked. These entities continue to obfuscate and prevent me from obtaining information that I have a right to inspect and make public.  Steven Rubis   < stevenrubis@gmail.com > 6:41 PM (55 minutes ago) to  dan.adams ,  Aaron ,  LCPS-SUP-Ombuds ,  legal ,  Lisa ,  Schoolboardemail ,  Loudoun NOTICE OF FERPA VIOLATION AND DEMAND FOR PRODUCTION TO:  Dan Adams, LCPS FOIA Officer FROM:  Steven Rubis, Investigative Journalist / Parent of Charles Rubis DATE:  January 21, 2026 RE:  Deficiency in Public Records Request #R002442-121825 / Immediate FERPA Demand SENT VIA EMAIL Mr. Adam...