The fallout from the botched handling (to put it mildly) of a sexual assault case that rocked Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) could lead to criminal charges for certain officials who now find themselves under the scrutiny of a grand jury.
The revelation that the district quietly transferred the student from Stone Bridge High School after forcing a girl to perform sex acts on them incredulously became even more shocking after they committed sexual assault shortly after arriving at their new school.
The controversy sparked a nationwide backlash and likely contributed to the Republican Party’s sweep of statewide offices last November.
Local reporter Hayley Milon Bour first announced that a special grand jury had convened to investigate LCPS’ handling of the sexual assaults following an order from Gov. Youngkin.
The Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak further reports:
Special grand juries are sometimes used to investigate systemic corruption among public officials. According to the Virginia judiciary, they can be used to “investigate and report upon any condition which tends to promote criminal activity in the community or by any governmental authority, agencies, or the officials thereof.”
In its statement, LCPS said it has taken “several steps to help protect our students from such incidents happening in the future. LCPS has expanded the size and scope of our Title IX office by hiring a full-time Title IX Coordinator and additional investigative staff, [and] expanded our Office of Division Counsel to better assist staff with issues relating to legal compliance.”
Youngkin, elected in November, 2021, after campaigning as an advocate for parents, signed on his first day in office an order authorizing the attorney general “to initiate and coordinate investigative and prosecutorial efforts” in order “to protect the citizens of the Commonwealth and hold accountable any individuals who have violated existing law or violated the rights of victims of crime” in connection with the rape handling.
Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler told the public and the school board, which was attempting to pass a progressive transgender bathroom policy at the time of the incident, that there had never been any assaults in LCPS bathrooms. Had parents known about the incident, the policy could have been more difficult to pass.