Mᴀᴠᴇʀɪᴄᴋ Iɴᴠᴇsᴛɪɢᴀᴛɪᴠᴇ Sᴇʀᴠɪᴄᴇ

09/18/2026

DID ANYONE TELL SECRETARY McMAHON WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN WEST VIRGINIA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM?

The official release says the Secretary visited West Virginia to hear from educators about students’ needs and how state and local leaders can support schools.

So, West Virginia Department of Education, did you tell her about:

* The Brooke County principal criminally charged in connection with alleged recording devices inside student locker-room areas?
* The Marshall County felony cases involving the alleged abuse of an autistic elementary-school student and alleged failures to report or properly respond?
* The Marion County Title IX litigation involving allegations of concealment, retaliation, and institutional misconduct toward a minor and family?
* The Fayette County teacher and state delegate federally indicted on three felony counts involving the alleged s*xual exploitation of a minor?
* The broader pattern of students, parents, and victims reporting that they were ignored, intimidated, dismissed, or forced to fight the very institutions responsible for protecting them?

Or did the Department select two showcase schools, stage the photographs, discuss only what was working, and send a federal official away with a carefully controlled version of West Virginia education?

Recognizing dedicated teachers and successful programs is appropriate. Using those successes to present an incomplete picture while serious allegations, criminal proceedings, lawsuits, and institutional failures remain unresolved is not transparency. It is narrative control.

You do not get to showcase “excellence” while refusing to confront the children and families alleging they were failed by this system.

This did not go unnoticed.

We will provide Secretary McMahon’s office with the documented cases, public records, court proceedings, and questions that apparently were not important enough to place on the official agenda. We will also seek the communications, briefing materials, talking points, school-selection criteria, attendee lists, and subjects presented during this visit.

The public deserves to know whether student safety, Title IX compliance, mandatory reporting, institutional retaliation, and the growing number of criminal allegations involving people placed in positions of trust were discussed at all.

If officials knowingly present only the success stories while withholding the crises, they are not fixing the system. They are protecting its image.

A PHOTO OP IS NOT OVERSIGHT.
A PRESS RELEASE IS NOT ACCOUNTABILITY.
SELECTIVE SILENCE IS NOT LEADERSHIP.

The era of assuming these matters will quietly disappear is over. Public-record requests, independent investigations, legislative hearings, sworn testimony, and sustained news coverage are coming. Anyone unwilling to confront what is happening to West Virginia’s children should step aside for someone who will.

Stop managing the narrative. Start protecting the children.

We will follow the evidence, preserve the record, notify the appropriate officials, and continue demanding accountability until these failures can no longer be ignored.

Charges and allegations are not convictions unless proven in court. That does not prevent the public from demanding transparency and lawful oversight.

09/18/2026

⬇️ OPEN YOUR EYES, WEST VIRGINIA.

This is not happening somewhere else. It is happening across our state, including in communities where people insist, “That could never happen here.”

Look at the pattern:

* Brooke County: A principal charged in connection with alleged locker-room recordings.
* Marshall County: Felony cases involving the alleged abuse of an autistic elementary-school student and alleged reporting failures.
* Marion County: A minor’s Title IX case involving allegations of concealment, retaliation, and institutional failures.
* Mineral County: Serious questions surrounding a sheriff’s department’s employment of a convicted s*x offender.
* Kanawha County: A $9.1 million settlement involving alleged hidden-camera recordings inside the West Virginia State Police Academy.
* Boone County: Kyneddi Miller died after warning signs, a welfare check, and no reported follow-up.
* Fayette County: A teacher and state delegate federally indicted on three felony counts involving the alleged s*xual exploitation of a minor.
* Harrison County: A former sheriff’s deputy and D.A.R.E. officer indicted on charges related to child s*xual abuse material.

Then consider the federal audit: 91% of the 100 sampled child-abuse reports failed to comply with at least one required intake, assessment, or investigative requirement.

How many counties must appear on this map before West Virginians stop saying, “It doesn’t happen here”?

How many children, victims, and families must fight institutions that have more money, authority, attorneys, and political connections?

If misconduct does not affect your family today, that does not make it unimportant. When the public sees warning signs and chooses silence, denial, or blind institutional loyalty, that silence helps the failure continue.

Stop automatically defending institutions. Start demanding that institutions prove they deserve the public’s trust.

We have also not forgotten the concerns involving volunteer fire departments, taxpayer money, gaming activities, suspected financial misconduct, and repeated allegations of embezzlement. That evidence is being compiled through names, financial figures, public records, and supporting documentation. Our work includes fraud examination and financial-record analysis. We will publish what the evidence supports when that review is complete.

Those who received our preservation notice dated September 17, 2026, should preserve all potentially relevant records, including emails, text messages, financial documents, audit materials, personnel records, photographs, video, device data, social-media communications, meeting minutes, logs, metadata, and backups. Deleting or altering relevant material after receiving notice will not erase the existing paper trail or third-party records.

Do not mistake restraint for weakness. Do not mistake silence for ignorance. We are documenting, corroborating, preserving, and following the facts.

SILENCE ENABLES IT. DENIAL PROTECTS IT.

WE WILL NOT LOOK AWAY. WE WILL DEMAND ANSWERS, PROTECT VICTIMS, AND PURSUE ACCOUNTABILITY.

Charges, indictments, and allegations are not convictions unless proven in court. that principle does not prevent the public from asking questions, examining documented patterns, or demanding lawful oversight.

09/18/2026

HOW ARE WEST VIRGINIANS SUPPOSED TO TRUST THE SYSTEM?

Women were secretly recorded inside the women’s locker room at the West Virginia State Police Academy, the institution responsible for training law-enforcement officers across this state. A judge has now approved a reported $9.1 million settlement.

At the same time, citizens in Mineral County are expected to accept a sheriff’s department employing a convicted s*x offender in an official position of public trust.

How are victims and families supposed to feel safe reporting s*xual misconduct when institutions entrusted with protecting them repeatedly demonstrate such staggering failures of judgment and accountability?

These incidents may involve different agencies and different facts, but together they expose the same fundamental problem: institutions demand the public’s trust while resisting the transparency and accountability necessary to earn it.

West Virginians are not ignorant. We notice the contradictions. We notice the double standards. We notice when ordinary citizens are judged by one standard while people connected to government institutions receive another.

A settlement may compensate victims, but it does not answer every question. Who knew? Who failed to act? What safeguards failed? Who was disciplined? What has actually changed?

Public trust is not restored through press releases, silence, or taxpayer-funded settlements. It is restored through disclosure, independent investigation, meaningful consequences, and reforms that prevent the next victim.

This is not anti-law-enforcement. It is pro-accountability, pro-victim, and pro-public safety. No badge, title, office, or political connection should place anyone above scrutiny.

09/15/2026

WELLSBURG DESERVES ANSWERS.
WEST VIRGINIA DESERVES PUBLIC HEARINGS.

Nine lawsuits have reportedly been filed on behalf of female student-athletes who used the girls’ locker rooms at Brooke High School in Wellsburg. Principal Eric James has been criminally charged after recording devices were reportedly discovered in areas where female students changed clothes.

Brooke High School is not merely another headline. It is part of the Wellsburg community. These are the community’s children, students, teammates, friends, and families.

Students entered those changing areas with every right to believe they were private and safe. The reported conduct represents a profound betrayal of that trust. An arrest may identify the person charged, but it does not answer broader questions about supervision, warning signs, institutional responsibility, evidence preservation, or how many students may have been affected.

How many children must be harmed, ignored, intimidated, or failed before West Virginia’s elected officials demand statewide accountability?

This is not the time for another carefully worded statement expressing “concern.” It is time for public oversight hearings, sworn testimony, compulsory production of records, and an independent examination of how schools across West Virginia receive, investigate, document, and respond to allegations involving student safety.

West Virginia’s governor, legislators, education officials, school districts, and boards of education must demand answers:

- How long were these devices present and operating?
- How many students may have been affected?
- Who accessed, stored, transmitted, or shared any recordings?
- Were previous complaints or warning signs reported?
- What did school and district officials know, and when did they know it?
- Were mandatory reporting and parental-notification requirements followed?
- Is every recording, communication, complaint, personnel record, and electronic device being preserved?
- Did anyone prioritize the institution’s reputation over the safety of students?
- What statewide safeguards will prevent another family from enduring this?

ENOUGH EXCUSES. ENOUGH SECRECY. Enough of institutions investigating themselves behind closed doors while families fight for the truth.

Brooke High School cannot be dismissed as one isolated incident involving one administrator. Families across West Virginia continue to report concerns about school misconduct, retaliation, privacy violations, ignored complaints, administrative failures, and institutions protecting themselves from scrutiny.

MAVERICK INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE has investigated and continues to investigate these types of matters. We have spoken with families who felt unheard, dismissed, intimidated, or forced to challenge powerful institutions simply to protect their children.

The public is speaking. Families are speaking. Victims are speaking.

Why are the people elected and appointed to protect West Virginia’s children not demanding to hear them?

Silence is not leadership. Delay is not accountability. Protecting an institution is not the same as protecting a child. The harm suffered by children can continue long after the news coverage ends, leaving consequences that may follow them for years.

We demand public hearings. We demand independent investigations. We demand preservation of the evidence. We demand testimony under oath. We demand accountability at every level where warning signs, complaints, or responsibilities may have been ignored.

To the Wellsburg community and every affected family: You do not have to face these institutions alone.

MAVERICK INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE is available to provide confidential victim advocacy, independent investigative support, including evidence preservation, witness interviews, timeline development, records review, identification of inconsistencies, and investigative assistance for retained legal counsel.

To West Virginia’s elected officials: Do your duty. Convene the hearings. Hear the victims. Hear the families. Follow the evidence wherever it leads.

To the students and families: We see you. Your voices deserve to be heard, documented, and taken seriously. We stand with you in the pursuit of truth and accountability.

Our lead investigator is also a survivor of s*xual assault and abuse. This work is deeply personal to us. We understand the lasting harm these violations can cause and the courage it takes for survivors and families to speak out. To every student and family affected: We hear you, we stand with you, and we will treat your experience with the dignity, compassion, confidentiality, and seriousness it deserves.

Protect the children. Expose the failures. Demand accountability.

**The criminal charges and civil allegations remain pending and must be resolved through the applicable legal process.**

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

To be clear, before the excuse committee calls a special session. This former Harrison County Deputy Sheriff and DARE officer has been indicted, not convicted. He remains entitled to due process and the presumption of innocence.

https://www.wboy.com/news/crime/former-harrison-county-d-a-r-e-officer-indicted-for-child-porn/

But if he is eventually convicted and required to register, perhaps he should submit an application to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office. Based on its publicly demonstrated employment standards, the benefits package may include:

A public-facing position.

A department vehicle.

Carry a firearm.

Government authority.

Institutional silence whenever scrutiny arrives.

And, apparently, complimentary representation from the local Excuse and Justification Committee.

They will explain that he is a “good person,” insist there is “another side,” declare the conviction “old news,” and accuse anyone asking questions of being unfair. Connections may substitute for professional standards. Character references may be presented as though they overrule court records.

Sarcasm aside, this exposes the double standard.

If a future conviction and registration requirement would disqualify this former deputy, why does an existing conviction and registration requirement not disqualify the person Mineral County already employs?

What is the difference? The conduct, the connections, or simply whom the good ol’ boys have chosen to protect?

Selective standards are not standards. They are favoritism wearing an official uniform.

The Public is still waiting for an honest answer.

09/10/2026

APPARENTLY, THE BOARD NEEDED A WORKBOOK.

According to WBOY, the Marion County Board of Education recently attended a session on becoming “better board members,” featuring How Not to Be a Terrible Board Member.

That is the actual title.

And these are not random volunteers who wandered into public office by accident. They are elected officials. They ran for these positions, asked voters for their trust, accepted the authority that comes with the office, and now apparently require a workbook explaining how not to be terrible at the job they campaigned to perform.

These officials are entrusted with public schools, public money, and decisions affecting children and families. Yet state representatives apparently had to explain their basic duties, responsibilities, boundaries, and communication expectations.

That is not exactly a glowing endorsement of the board’s performance.

WBOY describes the meeting as “healthy,” while emphasizing the school system’s strengths and reducing concerns to merely “a few things.”

A few things?

That is a remarkably gentle description for circumstances serious enough to require state intervention and remedial instruction for elected officials.

The public deserves to know:

Why was state intervention necessary?

What failures led to this training?

Which board members failed to understand their responsibilities?

What specific reforms will follow?

Who will be held accountable if problems continue?

Will the board provide measurable proof of improvement, or are taxpayers expected to accept a book, a meeting, and a cheerful news story as evidence of progress?

A workbook cannot create integrity, courage, independence, or sound judgment. It cannot teach someone to care about public trust if they have already demonstrated that they would rather protect the institution than answer difficult questions. And it certainly cannot substitute for transparency, accountability, or the basic ability to follow policy.

These are elected officials. They ran for the office. No one forced them to campaign, ask for votes, or accept the responsibility. They wanted the title, the authority, and the public platform.

The least the public should expect is that they understand the job.

If the board wants to improve, the curriculum is simple:

Read the policies.

Listen to the public.

Answer questions.

Accept responsibility.

Protect students.

Follow the law.

And please do not expect applause for learning not to be terrible at a job you voluntarily pursued and were elected to perform.

Read WBOY’s article here:
https://www.wboy.com/news/marion/marion-county-boe-attends-meeting-on-how-to-be-better-board-members/

MAVERICK INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE
HONOR • ETHICS • VIGILANCE

All parties involved spent time reading from a book titled “How Not to be a Terrible Board Member: Lessons for School Administration and Board Members.”

09/09/2026

You thought it was going to disappear.

You thought enough delays, silence, closed doors, and unanswered questions would eventually exhaust the people demanding the truth.

You were wrong.

I said we were not going anywhere, and I meant it.

While some dismissed the facts, protected reputations, and waited for everyone to lose interest, the work continued. Evidence was preserved. Records were examined. Contradictions were documented. Every obstacle became another part of the record.

That hard work, courage, and resilience have now brought this matter to a new and consequential stage.

A lawsuit has been filed, and the matter is now before the appropriate legal process. We will not discuss the details at this time, but the record will speak for itself as the case moves forward.

For now, understand this:

The truth survived the delays.
The evidence survived the silence.
And the people you expected to disappear are still standing.

To everyone who refused to surrender when surrender would have been easier, your courage mattered.

To those who believed time would protect them from accountability:

Stay tuned.

The next chapter has begun.

MAVERICK INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE
HONOR • ETHICS • VIGILANCE

09/09/2026

Interesting. The public should be promptly notified about a fatal shooting, and the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office was right to release information about that incident. But the public should also be informed about the employment of a registered s*x offender—especially when that employment raises legitimate questions about public trust, hiring standards, background checks, public contact, fi****ms access, liability, and institutional safeguards.

That is where the selective-information approach becomes impossible to ignore.

When the good ol’ boys want the public to know something, the statement is released immediately, carefully worded, and presented as proof of transparency. But when the subject involves an existing conviction and the institution’s own decision-making, suddenly the wagons circle, the doors close, and “no comment” becomes the official communications strategy.

Apparently, transparency is not a principle. It is a public-relations tool—used when convenient and withheld when accountability might become uncomfortable.

We will not speculate about the shooting. That investigation should follow the evidence and due process.

But the contrast remains: the Sheriff’s Office has demonstrated that it can communicate promptly and in detail. The unanswered questions about employing a registered s*x offender demonstrate that it chooses not to do so when the scrutiny points inward.

The public deserves more than selective disclosure, institutional silence, and a carefully managed version of transparency.

We are still waiting for answers.

09/04/2026

GABRIEL REFUSED TO LET THEM EXTINGUISH HIS LIGHT. NOW LET’S SHOW HIM THAT HIS COMMUNITY STANDS BEHIND HIM.

When I first met Gabriel in February 2025, he was quiet, guarded, and carrying pain that no child should ever have to endure.

After enduring profound trauma, Gabriel deserved protection, compassion, and adults willing to stand firmly beside him. Instead, he and his family faced disbelief, humiliation, victim-shaming, retaliation, and silence from people who should have helped them. That pain did not disappear. Their fight is far from over.

But they did not expect Gabriel to keep rising.

They also did not expect someone who understood that pain firsthand to stand beside him and refuse to walk away.

Through trauma-informed interviews and every conversation that followed, I watched the light slowly return to Gabriel’s eyes. I told him:

“Gabriel, this was not your fault. Do not let anyone dull your light. Never look down. Hold your head high and be proud of the courage it took to stand up.”

I encouraged him to find something he loved and use it as a positive outlet. He found football.

Since then, I have watched a hurting and reserved boy grow into a hardworking, determined, and mature young man. He plays with heart. He works hard every day. He encourages his teammates, puts the team before himself, and now motivates others with the same strength and encouragement once given to him.

Gabriel did not simply endure adversity. He rose to meet it.

Please vote for Gabriel for 2026 Athlete of the Year. Vote not only because of what he has survived, but because of what he has done with the last 18 months. Vote for his courage, growth, discipline, maturity, and refusal to surrender.

If Gabriel wins, he plans to give back by supporting his football program and helping less-fortunate children. That tells you exactly what kind of young man he is becoming.

Gabriel once felt as though he had no voice. We did not allow that silence to last. Since February 2025, we have stood beside him, encouraged him, and supported his family. We will remain with them through the finish line and beyond.

Vote for Gabriel. Share his story. Share this post. Help turn support into action.

🏈 VOTE HERE:
https://athleteoftheyear.org/2026/gabriel-5074

Gabriel, hold your head high. We see your strength, your hard work, and the young man you are becoming. We are proud of you.

MAVERICK INVESTIGATIVE SERVICE STANDS WITH YOU. ALWAYS.