On Thursday, the new GOP Attorney General-Elect of Virginia, Jason Miyares, accompanied by Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman, announced he intended to investigate sexual assault incidents in Loudoun County Public Schools.
Drew Wilder of NBC Washington noted, “Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares says he and Gov-Elect Youngkin will look to change Virginia law to allow the AG authority to step in when local officials feel the Commonwealth’s Attorney is not doing an adequate job. Miyares specifically references northern Virginia.” He added, “AG-Elect Jason Miyares says he intends to investigate the sexual assault incidents in Loudoun County Public Schools.”
NEW – Attorney General-Elect Jason Miyares says he and Gov-Elect Youngkin will look to change Virginia law to allow the AG authority to step in when local officials feel the Commonwealth's Attorney is not doing an adequate job. Miyares specifically references northern Virginia.
— Drew Wilder (@DrewWilderTV) November 4, 2021
NEW – AG-Elect Jason Miyares says he intends to investigate the sexual assault incidents in Loudoun County Public Schools.@nbcwashington https://t.co/uWZuGzHdwm
— Drew Wilder (@DrewWilderTV) November 4, 2021
When a reporter asked him whether he planned to “investigate Loudoun County Public Schools and the recent sexual assaults that have happened there,” Miyares bluntly answered, “Yes.” He also said:
One of our major legislative initiatives, which we had talked about on the campaign, was to allow us — right now, the way it works, is if a sitting commonwealth attorney requests it, we can come in and prosecute a case on their behalf. We’re going to be seeking a legislative change, and Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin has already indicated that he would sign that into law — but a bill that would essentially save the chief law enforcement officer in jurisdiction, either the chief of police or the sheriff makes a request because the commonwealth’s attorney is not doing their job, then I’m going to do their job for them.
And I’m thinking specifically some of the so-called “social justice” commonwealth attorneys that have been elected, particularly in Northern Virginia. We obviously are aware of some pretty horrific cases that have made the public where they failed to do their job. And if there’s anything that I want to bring back to the forefront in this process, are the victims. I can tell you as a former prosecutor, there’s individuals that you remember: are the victims. I don’t remember the defendants as much. And so that’s been a little bit of my frustration, that I have seen, the victims have been forgotten. And when prosecutors are making plea deals on child-rape cases over the objection of the family, I have a serious problem with that.
As Luke Rosiak of The Daily Wire reported in a blockbuster story that went viral nationwide, a father accused the Loudoun County Schools of attempting to conceal a sexual assault against his daughter in a school bathroom. Rosiak reported on October 11:
On June 22, Scott Smith was arrested at a Loudoun County, Virginia, school board meeting, a meeting that was ultimately deemed an “unlawful assembly” after many attendees vocally opposed a policy on transgender students. What people did not know is that weeks prior on May 28, Smith says, a boy allegedly wearing a skirt entered a girls’ bathroom at nearby Stone Bridge High School, where he sexually assaulted Smith’s ninth-grade daughter.
Juvenile records are sealed, but Smith’s attorney Elizabeth Lancaster told The Daily Wire that a boy was charged with two counts of forcible sodomy – one count of anal sodomy and one count of forcible fellatio – related to an incident that day at that school.
The Daily Wire added on October 18, “Loudoun County prosecutor Buta Biberaj defended the decision to transfer a boy accused of sexually assaulting a female student in a girl’s bathroom to a different high school in the same school district late last week, telling local media that the boy had no prior record.”