Tipsheet

Loudoun County School District Rapist Placed on Sex Offender Registry for Life

Update:

Victoria LaCivita, the communications director for Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares provided a statement to Townhall shortly after publication, emphasizing that Miyares is committed to prioritizing an investigation the school board. "What happened in Loudoun County High Schools this past year was nothing short of horrific. The Attorney-General Elect is committed to investigating the Loudoun County School Board and their coverup that led to this rapist being able to assault another young girl. It is a day one, immediate priority," she said.

Original:

In the final weeks before the Virginia statewide elections, it was revealed that a now 15-year old boy who dressed like a girl raped two girls in separate incidents at separate schools in the Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) system. The boy, who was found guilty in one incident in October and reached a plea deal in another in November, was sentenced to residential treatment on Wednesday, as Luke Rosiak reported for The Daily Wire. The 15-year old has also been placed on a sex offender registry for life, something the judge in the case has never done for a juvenile before, and is now alleged to have attacked a third victim, Rosiak also indicated. 

The 15-year old appeared in court with his hair in a bun and his ankles in chains as he apologized directly to the two girls he raped. However, one victim called on him to acknowledge what he did to that third girl. "I hope one day you tell them what you did to that girl," one of the victims said. 

Judge Pamela Brooks said "it scared me" about the 15-year old's report. From Rosiak's coverage:

But on Wednesday Judge Pamela Brooks said the assaults did occur, saying, “Over the years this court has read many psychosexual reports, and when I read yours, frankly, it scared me. It scared me for you, it scared me for society.”

...

Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj appeared in court, but did not speak. The juvenile prosecutor who took the lead asked for the perpetrator to be placed on the sex offender registry, a more severe step than that requested by a juvenile parole officer. The judge said she had never ordered a juvenile onto the registry despite hearing numerous juvenile cases, but that “I am ordering you onto the sexual offender registry.”

Biberaj previously said the suspect was released from jail because he had no “history.” The suspect’s mother later told the Daily Mail that he had been busted sending naked pictures four years prior. The publication reported that police were aware of the incident at the time, but that charges were not pursued because the school district promised to handle it.

...

The suspect was arrested but let out of jail with an ankle bracelet and transferred to another school, where he assaulted the second girl in a classroom.

Biberaj was elected in 2019 with the help of $850,000 from George Soros, ultimately winning 51% of the vote. Since then, Democratic county leaders have criticized her for going easy on criminals, saying women have particularly suffered as their abusers go unpunished.

The judge rebuffed the defense attorney for downplaying the rape by saying the two had previously had consensual sex–a justification also employed by the likes of the New York Times. “It’s important to have it conveyed that saying yes one day does not mean yes every other day,” she said.

...

In court, Smith told the judge, “I question some of the decisions of the school system and prosecuting office for allowing the second assault to happen.”

Mentioned in Rosiak's reporting, including in the excerpt above, is yet another controversy to do with Loudoun County. Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj not only went easy on the 15-year old, but chose to prosecute and sought jail time for Scott Smith, the father of the first victim, after he was arrested at a June 22 school board meeting for disorderly conduct.

Biberaj was funded not only by George Soros, but also supported by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who was elected in 2013 and then ran again in 2021, as the Virginia constitution prohibits governors from serving back-to-back terms. McAuliffe went on to lose to Governor-Elect Glenn Youngkin (R) last November. 

Youngkin held a rally last October calling for an investigation of the Loudoun County School Board which sought to cover it up, promising that he and now Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares (R) would take action on day one. McAuliffe, however, continuously dismissed the rape allegations and concerns of safety in the Northern Virginia school district. 

Rosiak's pinned tweet, from October 26, also highlighted how "McAuliffe-Linked Law Firm Fighting Virginia Student Who Said She Was Gang-Raped."

Concerns from Youngkin, Miyares, and voters were not abated thanks to a lack of transparency from the school district. The school district did not report the May 2021 rape that the 15-year old committed, who then went on to commit more, at a separate school in the district that he was moved to. School Superintendent Scott Zeigler had claimedthat there were no such bathroom assaults in the district. 

Rosiak revealed last October that Smith was arrested for his outrage that led to his arrest at the school board meeting was over Zeigler's denial.

During a September court hearing in Commonwealth v. Tigges, Zeigler likened concerned parents to people drinking on the beach and January 6 rioters. 

A priority for the school district was for transgender students to be able to use the bathroom of the gender they identified with. The district has continued to prioritize LGBT issues.

Also at issue with schools reporting such crimes is how Gov. Ralph Northam (D-VA) in March 2020 signed into law House Bill 257, which allows the school district to decide for itself if it's going to alert law enforcement about misdemeanors, including sexual battery. It went into effect that July. 

While the school district did announce they would be conducting an "independent" review, shortly after Miyares did, it received criticism from the start from parents rights groups. Such groups have continued their outrage. As Rosiak also reported, "LCPS said it would conduct an independent investigation of how it handled the incident in order to put community concerns to rest. But on Wednesday, it was reported that the school system has completed the investigation but is keeping the result secret by citing attorney-client privilege." 

Youngkin and Miyares, along with Lieutenant Governor-Elect Winsome Sears (R) will be inaugurated on Saturday afternoon.