A father facing jail time for protesting the rape of his daughter by a transgender student at a Virginia high school has been pardoned by state Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Scott Smith was sentenced to a 10-day suspended sentence for disorderly conduct after he was dragged out of a school board meeting for protesting the Stone Bright High School student, who then attacked another girl.
Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler was later fired after a damning grand jury investigation found he ignored complaints and covered up what the school knew about the May 2021 attack on Smith’s daughter.
“Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, which is stand up for their child,” Youngkin told Fox News on Sunday.
“I spoke to Mr Smith on Friday and was privileged to tell Mr Smith I will pardon him and we did that on Friday.”
Scott Smith, pictured with his wife Jessica, faced possible jail time for protesting the rape of his daughter at Stone Bright High School in Pennsylvania
The father was beaten and left covered in blood after he was expelled from the Loudoun County school board meeting in June 2021
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said at the formal pardon, “Mr. Smith did what any father would do.”
Smith’s daughter was pinned to the floor and attacked by the boy in a toilet stall. A teacher later testified that she saw two pairs of feet but did not interfere.
Three hours after the attack, the boy was still at large. During this time, Principal Tim Flynn attempted to get a ban letter on Scott, who had arrived at the school.
The male student, who was wearing a skirt on the day of the attack, was allowed into the toilet because he told staff he identified as female.
He wasn’t arrested until two months later, but on October 6 he sexually assaulted another girl at a different school, Broad Run High School.
By then, Smith had attempted to alert parents at the Loudoun County School Board’s June meeting, but was met with a wall of rejection from the governors.
Officials reiterated that the school’s gender-specific restrooms where the rape took place were unproblematic, and Smith was kicked out by police and arrested when he refused to leave the school.
The girl’s mother, Jessica, said the family had been pressured to remain silent about the incident and had no idea her daughter’s attacker had been allowed back into school.
“We were silenced for many months,” Jessica Smith told . “We were told not to say a word that might jeopardize our daughter’s case.”
She only learned of his troubled past when revealed that the boy had sent nude photos of himself to a classmate in fifth grade, leading to an investigation but no arrest.
Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He said he tried to hold back after teachers falsely claimed they had received no reports of sexual assault in the girls’ toilets
The 15-year-old was a former student at Stone Bridge High School, where he was accused of raping a classmate in the girl’s bathroom
The boy had also been suspended several times for punching and other misconduct.
“More should have been done to help, not a cover-up,” Jessica said.
A special report found that the second attack could have been prevented and that the school district administration lied to parents to cover up the controversy over transgender bathroom policies.
“Without exception, this resulted in a staggering lack of openness, transparency and accountability to both the public and the special grand jury,” it concluded.
“There were multiple decision points for senior LCPS administrators, up to the superintendent, to be transparent and intervene and change the sequence of events that led to the sexual assault at BRHS on October 6.”
“They failed at every point. “We also believe that the kidnapping and sexual assault of a student at Broad Run High School on October 6 could and should have been prevented.”
And the case became the searing climax of a heated debate in Loudoun County over the rights of transgender students and parents’ free speech, leading to more angry disruptions of school board meetings.
Last year, the teenager was found guilty of both attacks and remanded to custody at a juvenile correctional center.
However, the 15-year-old was not required To as a sex offender, leaving Smith and his wife Jessica angry at the ruling.
“My wife and I are not only heartbroken by today’s verdict, we are frankly angry at how the justice system and the Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney have failed both our daughter and the other victims of his predatory actions,” Smith said statement.
“The person who committed these horrific crimes against these young women will now, because of the district attorney’s mistakes, not have to endure the lasting shame of being known as a lifelong registered sex offender, as he was originally convicted.”
“We are now more concerned than ever that this change in his legal status may place other parents’ daughters at risk of physical harm in the future.”
Gov. Youngkin said the school “covered it up” and told Fox that parents must have the final say on their children’s education.
“We have righted a wrong. He should never have been prosecuted here. “This was a father who stood up for his daughter.”
“His daughter was sexually abused in a school bathroom and no one did anything about it.”
“This was a gross miscarriage of justice.”
From Rape to Conviction: Timeline of a Teen in a Skirt
May 28: A 15-year-old teenager wearing a skirt allegedly rapes a classmate in a girl’s bathroom. She reports it to the principal. Superintendent Scott Ziegler sends an email to colleagues confirming the incident was reported
June 22: Rape victim’s father, Scott Smith, was dragged out of a school board meeting with a bloody mouth and arrested after listening to school officials say no one had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom after his daughter reported the rape
July 6: Investigators call the boy’s mother to report his impending arrest. She drives him to the station herself and he spends the next few weeks in the juvenile detention center in nearby Leesburg
October 6: 15-year-old changes schools and allegedly drags another girl into a classroom and touches her inappropriately. The police are called and he is arrested that same day
Oct. 25: Teen found guilty in May 28 sexual assault at Stone Bridge High School. The judge “founded” the charges of forcible sodomy and forcible fellatio, the juvenile equivalent of a conviction
October 26: Students stage a walkout from their classrooms as a show of “solidarity” for the victim. Some stood outside their school and shouted, “Loudoun County protects rapists!”
November 15: Skirt-wearing teenager says he’s not happy with sexual assault on fellow student
January 13: The boy is convicted on both counts