Sex offender employed at Fairfax County schools for over a year due to communication lapse

Fairfax County Public Schools employed a registered sex offender as a school counselor long after his conviction due to an error in communicating the offense by the arresting police department.

Darren Thornton, 50, was arrested and charged for solicitation of prostitution of a minor in Chesterfield County, Virginia, on November 19, 2020.

But when Chesterfield police attempted to notify Fairfax school’s then-Superintendent Scott Brabrand about Thornton’s arrest the day after, all three messages were returned as undeliverable, according to multiple outlets.

Copies of the emails shared with WTOP showed that they were sent to incorrect email addresses.  

Thornton was convicted in Chesterfield Circuit Court in March. He received five years probation.

On the National Sex Offender Registry, Thornton’s current job is listed as “self-employed.”

WJLA-TV first reported on Thornton’s job as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School when he was arrested for a second time in Chesterfield County for “solicitation of prostitution and frequenting a bawdy place” in June.

Both of Thornton’s arrests were part of a prostitution sting, Sergeant Winfred Lewis of Chesterfield police told WJLA.

Officers who were part of the first sting operation involving Thornton recognized him when he was arrested the second time. They were surprised to find that he still worked for Fairfax County schools.

“Of course, that certainly did concern us,” Sgt. Lewis told the station. “I remember that someone had pulled up the FCPS website and had noticed he was still showing up there on the website. We didn’t know if that was just a failure to update the website, or what was going on with that.”

The sergeant said he called the school system this time around to notify them.

Thornton was placed on unpaid leave on June 17. Fairfax Superintendent Michelle Reid said in an Aug. 18 letter to the community that Thornton “has been terminated and FCPS is petitioning the state to revoke his license.”

“I just want to assure the community that we understand the disappointment, and the breach of trust that this has created, and we are going to work hard to regain that trust and rebuild it,” Ms. Reid told WJLA.