Virginia Gov. Youngkin pardons dad who erupted over high school ‘coverup’ of daughter’s sex assault
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sunday he pardoned a dad who angrily protested a Loudoun County school’s handling of his daughter’s sexual assault.
Scott Smith, a plumber who erupted at a rowdy school board meeting on June 22, 2021 — reportedly unleashing a storm of profanities — was arrested and subsequently convicted of disorderly conduct.
“I spoke with Mr. Smith on Friday, and I had the privilege of telling Mr. Smith that I will pardon him, and we did that on Friday,” Youngkin told “Fox News Sunday.”
“We righted a wrong. He should’ve never been prosecuted here. This was a dad standing up for his daughter.”
Smith alleged his then-ninth grade daughter was sexually assaulted by a biological boy donning a skirt in a Stone Bridge High School bathroom — and that the school informed him it was conducting an in-house investigation of the attack.
But minutes before Smith’s arrest during the school board meeting, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler insisted “we don’t have any record of assaults occurring in our restrooms,” the Daily Wire reported.
Ziegler also contended “the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist” — a denial that enraged Smith.
“His daughter had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom of a school, and no one was doing anything about it,” Youngkin said, arguing the superintendent “covered it up.”
The debacle sparked national outrage, especially among conservatives. A second attack with the same suspect was reported later in 2021.
“Mr. Smith did what any father would do, what any parent would do, which is stand up for their child,” Youngkin continued. “This was gross miscarriage of justice.”
That teenage suspect, who was hit with two counts of forcible sodomy, was later found guilty on all charges.
The suspect was sentenced to a residential treatment facility and placed on the sex offender registry.
The governor — now mobilizing for a competitive off-year state legislative election — has cast himself a champion of parental rights in education.
