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Loudoun school board officials could face criminal charges for handling of rape: ‘The corruption is huge’

April 14, 2022 | | Print Article

Loudoun County officials are under the spotlight of a special Virginia grand jury for their alleged role in covering up a rape committed by a transgender student in a high school restroom last year.

The May 2021 incident came to light in October when a video was seen of father Scott Smith being forcibly subdued and dragged from a Loudoun County school board meeting after claiming his ninth-grade daughter was raped in Stone Bridge High School’s bathroom by a gender-fluid boy in a skirt. At the time, Smith asserted that the school district was attempting to sweep the disturbing incident under the rug.

Elizabeth Lancaster, an attorney for Smith, revealed that the accused boy had been charged with “two counts of forcible sodomy, one count of anal sodomy, and one count of forcible fellatio,” BizPac Review reported at the time.

“If someone would have sat and listened for thirty seconds to what Scott had to say, they would have been mortified and heartbroken,” Lancaster stated at the time of the incident.

Parental outrage escalated following the revelation that the perpetrator had been quietly transferred to another school where he sexually assaulted a second student, despite School Superintendent Scott Ziegler’s assurances after the first rape that no assaults had been committed in school restrooms, and Loudon County Public Schools [LCPS] denied in required data disclosures that any sexual assaults had taken place at the school that year.

According to WJLA, LCPS issued a response Wednesday, stating, “Loudoun County Public Schools is aware that a special grand jury has been convened regarding Governor Youngkin’s Executive Order Number Four issued on January 15, 2022, which authorized the Attorney General to investigate incidents at Stone Bridge High School and Broad Run High School that took place in 2021.”

Governor Glenn Youngkin signed E.O. Number Four on his first day in office.

LCPS noted the measures it has already taken to address the incident and ensure one like it won’t be repeated, noting that it has expanded its Title IX office, which is tasked with preventing “sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.”

Following reports of the rape, Ziegler blamed Title IX for his lack of action, falsely claiming that the government policy prevented him from doing anything until the accused rapist was convicted.

“In response to these incidents, Superintendent Ziegler and the Loudoun County School Board directed LCPS staff to take several steps to help protect our students from such incidents happening in the future,” LCPS stated. “LCPS has expanded the size and scope of our Title IX office by hiring a full-time Title IX Coordinator and additional investigative staff, expanded our Office of Division Counsel to better assist staff with issues relating to legal compliance, taken other additional appropriate personnel actions and created a more robust process for alternative school placements.”

“Furthermore, LCPS has audited harassment and discrimination complaints raised over the past school year to ensure that such complaints raised over the past school year to ensure that such complaints had been addressed appropriately, and LCPS has provided, and will continue to provide, additional training to staff to reinforce the understanding of their obligations when they receive allegations of sexual harassment or assault,” the district continued.

“LCPS intends to cooperate with the lawful requests of the special grand jury, while protecting the privacy rights of our students to the extent permitted by law and in accordance with all applicable legal privileges,” LCPS said.


According to Smith, the grand jury needs to go beyond looking at only the school board.

“I hope this grand jury goes deeper than just the school board and also looks at the prosecuting attorney’s office, the sheriff’s department, the board of supervisors,” Smith told the Daily Wire, Wednesday. “I hope it gets [prosecutor Buta Biberaj] too, because without that it’s hard to save Loudon.”

“Is lying a jailable offense?” he asked. “Does Ziegler deserve to go to jail? I don’t know. He deserves to not have a job. But the fact that they’re dragging the community through this coverup for a year, maybe that is criminal.”

“I think what they’re going to find is that Loudoun is a very rich, powerful, controlled cartel by both sides, and the corruption is huge,” Smith added.

Melissa Fine
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