Grand jury has convened in Loudoun County trans student rape case to determine if school officials should face charges

A special grand jury has convened to determine whether criminal charges should be brought against officials in Loudoun County, Virginia, who stand accused of covering up multiple sexual assaults committed against female students by a biological male transgender classmate last year.

The formation of the grand jury, which is a regular pretrial process, was first reported by Loudoun Now journalist Hayley Milon Bour on Wednesday.

Outrage over the district's alleged cover-up of the assaults drew national headlines last year after the father of the first victim was arrested during a raucous school board meeting where parents had gathered to protest critical race theory and transgender-affirming policies pushed by the district.

Following his arrest, the father, Scott Smith, decided to speak out more publicly and provided detail about the incident in an interview with the Daily Wire. Smith said that his 15-year-old daughter was attacked in the women's restroom of Stone Bridge High School by a boy in a skirt amid the district's embrace of preferred gender bathroom use.

The boy in question was later found guilty on one felony count of forcible sodomy and one felony count of forcible fellatio for his assault against Smith's daughter. Yet, according to Smith, the district originally decided to handle things "in-house" and quietly transferred the boy to another school in the county so as to avoid negative press.

Tragically, while at the other school, Broad Run High, the student assaulted another female classmate and was found guilty on one felony count of abduction and a misdemeanor count of sexual battery.

Since the very start, onlookers have accused Loudoun County Public Schools of being intentionally misleading about the incident. In January, the progressive school board sparked further backlash when announcing it would not release a taxpayer-funded report documenting the incidents in order to protect the privacy of the families involved.

Then in January, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin — who was elected to office late last year riding a wave of hostility against progressive school boards — issued an executive order initiating an investigation into Loudoun County officials over their handling of the sexual assault incidents.

In response to the latest new of a grand jury's convening, the district put out a statement insisting "it intends to cooperate with the lawful requests of the special grand jury, while protecting the privacy rights of our students to the extent permitted by law and in accordance with all applicable legal privileges."

The district added that in response to the incidents, it has taken "several steps to help protect our students from such incidents happening in the future. LCPS has expanded the size and scope of our Title IX office by hiring a full-time Title IX Coordinator and additional investigative staff, [and] expanded our Office of Division Counsel to better assist staff with issues relating to legal compliance."

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