Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin pardoned Sunday the Loudoun County father who was convicted for disrupting a school board meeting in 2021 while accusing the school system of covering up his daughter’s sexual assault.
The Republican governor granted a pardon to Scott Smith over his disorderly conduct charge from the incident. Mr. Smith had a resisting arrest charge dropped previously.
Mr. Smith said his daughter was sexually assaulted in May 2021 in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School by a boy who was said to be wearing a skirt.
The father was arrested during a rowdy school board meeting a month later where he accused the school board of suppressing what happened to his daughter.
“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,” Mr. Youngkin said in a statement.
“In Virginia, parents matter and my resolve to empower parents is unwavering,” the governor continued. “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.”
Mr. Youngkin announced the pardon Sunday on Fox News. He originally signed the pardon on Friday.
Mr. Smith was among the throngs of parents who attended the June 2021 school board meeting to protest Loudoun County Public Schools proposed policies addressing transgender issues, such as letting students use bathrooms that conform with their self-identified gender.
Former LCPS Superintendent Scott Ziegler said during the meeting that the school system didn’t have any reports of assaults in their restrooms and that the “predator transgender student or person simply does not exist,” according to the Daily Wire.
The comment set off Mr. Smith, and he was eventually arrested. He was convicted of disorderly conduct in August of that year.
“What happened to me can never happen to another American again and it was kind of a bittersweet moment for me to accept this pardon,” Mr. Smith told local ABC affiliate WJLA-TV.
The boy accused of assaulting Mr. Smith’s daughter’s rape was convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting another student at a different Loudoun County school in October 2021. The teen had to register as a sex offender as part of his sentence.
Mr. Ziegler will go to trial later this month for two misdemeanors related to the alleged cover-up.
LCPS spokesman Wayde Byard was found not guilty of perjury in June after he was accused of lying about the sexual assaults.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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