Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued a pardon to Scott Smith, a Loudoun County parent who faced criminal charges over an emotional outburst he had at a school board meeting in 2021 following the sexual assault of his daughter by a male student in the girl’s bathroom at school.
The male student reportedly identified as bisexual and allegedly took advantage of the school system’s bathroom policy.
“Scott Smith is a dedicated parent who’s faced unwarranted charges in his pursuit to protect his daughter. Scott’s commitment to his child despite the immense obstacles is emblematic of the parental empowerment movement that started in Virginia,” said Youngkin in a press release.
Smith had reportedly said that school officials initially told him that what happened to his daughter was a “physical altercation.” School officials had opted not to involve law enforcement. He later discovered the sexual nature of the assault, which infuriated him.
“In Virginia, parents matter and my resolve to empower parents is unwavering. A parent’s fundamental right to be involved in their child’s education, upbringing, and care should never be undermined by bureaucracy, school divisions or the state. I am pleased to grant Scott Smith this pardon and help him and his family put this injustice behind them once and for all,” Youngkin said.
During the school board meeting in June 2021 that led to Smith’s arrest, a school board member and then-Superintendent Scott Ziegler claimed to be ignorant of the sexual assault.
“To my knowledge, we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” Ziegler said, according to Newsweek. “I think it’s important to keep our perspective on this, we’ve heard it several times tonight from our public speakers, but the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist.”
Smith, who was at the meeting, reportedly yelled and swore at a woman while demanding answers from officials over the school system’s handling of his daughter’s assault, according to the Associated Press. When law enforcement dragged him out of the room, he allegedly threatened to kick their teeth out. He was charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct.
A special grand jury was convened to look into the matter. It concluded that Ziegler was aware of the sexual assault and had even communicated with school board members about it. He was subsequently fired by the school board and indicted on multiple charges, NBC 4 Washington reported.
The teenager who was convicted of sexually assaulting Smith’s daughter was later also found guilty of forcibly touching another student at a nearby school, where he was reportedly allowed to attend school while awaiting trial for the first offense, per the AP.
In a statement issued by his attorneys, Smith said:
“What happened to my daughter was a horrible but preventable tragedy that she will have to deal with for the rest of her life. And the way the public school system, the School Board, the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office SRO Department & the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office handled this situation was abhorrent and completely unacceptable.
“My family has been living a nightmare that no family in America should have to endure. … My family intends to pursue legal action in the federal courts to hold the Loudoun County public school system accountable for putting its own interests above the safety of both my daughter [and] the families and communities that it was supposed to serve.”
