A Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deputy who has twice run for School Board is the subject of an internal LCSO investigation over derogatory remarks he made about public speakers at the April 9 board meeting.
Michael A. Rivera, a two-time School Board candidate and Loudoun County Sheriff's Office deputy.
Deputy Michael A. Rivera removed the comments from his X feed several hours after posting them on April 10, according to LCSO lead spokesman Thomas R. Julia.
In the post, Rivera referred to one speaker as "a barren hag that probably lives in her parent's basement." He said another speaker "wishes to push pornography and transgender cultism on children."
Rivera wrote that a third speaker, who identifies as transgender, "was a man dressed as woman. There's no other description necessary."
Julia said, "We're looking at it internally, so I won't comment other than that we have expectations that all of our employees will engage in the highest level of professional conduct both inside and outside the agency, consistent with their First Amendment rights. It was brought to his attention that we were aware of it, and he was asked to take the post down and he did."
Julia said Rivera was asked to remove the post after the LCSO was contacted by the Times-Mirror to ask if the remarks conflicted with the human relations section of the LCSO Code of Professional Conduct. Julia said the code applies to employees when they are working and when off duty.
The section says that employees "shall refrain from harsh, profane, or insolent language or acts, and shall be courteous and civil in dealing with others and no employee shall use racial or ethnic slurs." The section adds that employees shall use "respectful, civil forms of address to all persons, regardless of their lifestyle; and that display of bias toward any person because of race, sex, religious preference, or lifestyle shall be considered conduct unbecoming an employee of the Sheriff's Office."
Rivera, who ran unsuccessfully as the Republican-endorsed for the Leesburg District School Board seat in 2022 and for the At Large seat in 2023, didn't return an email on the afternoon of April 15.
