News

A new court filing alleges that federal investigators may have violated a court order shielding records from the cellphone of an activist who distributed flyers about Stephen Miller in his Arlington neighborhood last year.

The filing was submitted Tuesday by Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti. At more than 80 pages, it formally closes her office’s investigation of activist Barbara Wien without charges.


News

The House Judiciary Committee is targeting all three of Arlington’s main criminal justice agencies over local policies that restrict contact with immigration enforcement.

In separate letters to the Arlington County Police Department, Arlington County Sheriff’s Office and Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the committee took issue with the limits that these agencies have placed on their cooperation with immigration officers, arguing that such policies endanger the public.


News

Frequent County Board candidate Audrey Clement has taken issue with the amount of time her assailant was sentenced to serve for attacking her and a bystander outside a library in March.

The man, 47-year-old Jonathan Rogers, pleaded guilty to striking Clement in the back of the head and hitting a bystander in the eye when he intervened in the apparently unprovoked attack. Rogers was released from jail on Sunday after spending just 50 days behind bars — an amount of time that Clement believes is unacceptable.


News

Arlington’s commonwealth attorney seeking higher pay for prosecutors this budget season, pointing to increased salaries for police officers and potentially better compensation in surrounding localities.

The proposed fiscal year 2027 budget calls for increasing funding for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office by roughly 3%: from about $7.7 million to $7.9 million. But Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti told the Arlington County Board on Tuesday that prosecutors’ starting salary of $82,000 should be higher.


News

The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney, the latest escalation in a months-long dispute over her handling of an ongoing criminal investigation.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has filed a subpoena seeking to compel Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti to release numerous documents related to a case involving the search and seizure of an activist’s cellphone.


News

A convicted sex offender accused of indecent exposure in multiple girls’ locker rooms in Arlington has been found guilty of possessing child pornography.

Richard Kenneth Cox — who is still awaiting trial for other instances of allegedly claiming to be transgender in order to access girls’ locker rooms at Arlington Public Schools pools and remain there while naked — was found guilty of two counts of possession of child pornography yesterday (Wednesday).


News

A coalition of progressive prosecutors including Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney is promising to share strategies and pursue accountability for any illegal actions by federal agents.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti — alongside Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and prosecutors from Minneapolis, Philadelphia and other jurisdictions — announced the Fight Against Federal Overreach (FAFO) project yesterday (Wednesday). The initiative aims to “rein in unlawful conduct” amid a growing presence of federal immigration and law enforcement in communities across the country.


News

The House Judiciary Committee is threatening to legally force Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney to send documents related to her handling of an ongoing criminal investigation.

In the latest escalation of a months-long dispute, Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) argued that he has the authority to compel Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti to submit a wide variety of materials related to her requesting limits on the search and seizure of an Arlington activist’s cellphone.


News

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied with Arlington officials in Courthouse yesterday (Sunday) in protest of immigration enforcement killing a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.

“I have dedicated 24 years of my life protecting Arlington because I believe law enforcement is supposed to protect the community by building trusting relationships,” Arlington Sheriff Jose Quiroz told the crowd gathered in Courthouse Plaza. “ICE is doing the opposite. The way they are operating does not keep us safe.”


News

Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney is returning fire to the House Judiciary Committee for questioning her handling of an ongoing criminal investigation, accusing it of overstepping its authority.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has declined to provide numerous documents that Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) requested regarding an investigation of a local activist critical of the Trump administration. Arguing that many of these documents are confidential, she suggested that the request is “an improper incursion” into Virginia’s sovereignty and her own authority over local cases.


News

The chair of the House Judiciary Committee is challenging Arlington’s top prosecutor over a case involving a local activist critical of the Trump administration.

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) sent a letter to Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti yesterday (Thursday), accusing her of “political bias” and requesting numerous documents related to court proceedings and federal funding for her office.


News

The search and seizure of a cell phone belonging to an Arlington activist has set off a tug-of-war involving Arlington’s top prosecutor and state and federal authorities.

As partial allies in the legal action, seeking to limit an investigation of the phone belonging to 66-year-old retired academic Barbara Wien, are Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti and Wien’s attorney, former Chief Public Defender Brad Haywood.


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