Virginia prosecutor goes easy on a rapist while trying to jail the victim’s father

On Monday, Scott and Jessica Smith will watch the sentencing of a male student who raped their daughter in a high school girls’ bathroom, then sexually assaulted another victim at another school. I can’t help but wonder if the victims’ families will be vindicated and our county kept safe from not just predators but a prosecutor and school system that won’t put protecting our children before political allies and ideology.

On June 22, I attended a meeting of our embattled Loudoun County School Board, which had been in the news for months after the revelation that six members, along with Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj, were in a private Facebook group in which activists plotted against parents — including me.

What I witnessed is a cautionary tale. At the heart of this struggle is a “good old boy” network of a new kind with an illiberal prosecutor working with like-minded educrats to silence and punish parents. Biberaj must recuse herself or be disqualified from some pending cases if public trust is ever to be restored in Loudoun County, a symbol of parental challenges nationwide.

Parent Scott Smith was arrested a Loudon County school board meeting on June 22, 2021 that he was attending to protest a girl's bathroom policy that led to his daughter and another student getting raped.

 

Parent Scott Smith was arrested at a Loudon County school board meeting on June 22, 2021, that he was attending to protest a girls’ bathroom policy that led to his daughter getting raped.

I was there to oppose critical race theory, a divisive, race-obsessed ideology woven into the fabric of almost every aspect of our children’s school day. I also wanted to hear what safety measures would accompany Policy 8040, a new rule allowing students to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.

Scott and Jessica Smith's daughter was raped in a girl's bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Virginia last year.

 

Scott and Jessica Smith’s daughter was raped in a girls’ bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Virginia last year.

Scott and Jessica Smith had a very personal reason for attending. They wanted to hear how the board planned to prevent unintended consequences from this policy — because their daughter was raped in a girls’ bathroom at Stone Bridge High School on May 28.

Some spoke in favor of Policy 8040; countless more spoke against it. The audience applauded former state Sen. Dick Black’s statement, causing the board to walk out, with 200 residents still to speak. To calm and unite our community, I stood on a chair and led the crowd in “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Afterward, the audience peacefully lined up, taking turns giving their statements to an empty dais.

That’s when I saw an activist yelling at Scott Smith, threatening to ruin his business and denying that his daughter had been raped. Smith reacted as any papa bear would: He got angry and yelled back. Several people encircled and put hands on him.

He was unaware it was a sheriff’s deputy who came up behind him, pulling on his elbow. When Smith yanked his arm away, he was thrown to the floor and arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The media characterized him as a white supremacist and domestic terrorist.

Smith was arrested after an activist at the school board meeting started a fight.

 

Smith was arrested after an activist at the school board meeting started a fight.

Shockingly, Biberaj, who ran on criminal justice reform and reducing incarceration with financial backing from billionaire George Soros, personally prosecuted Smith’s case, seeking 20 days’ jail time. On hearing the facts, the judge reduced that to a 10-day suspended sentence.

After the rapist’s July 9 arrest, Biberaj’s office informed the Smiths that the boy would be home with an ankle monitor pending trial. They soon learned that was not the case.

That’s when I, a former media consultant, concerned Loudoun County parent and rape survivor, volunteered to help the Smiths navigate media coverage.

On Oct. 6, we learned the assailant had sexually assaulted another girl in a different Loudoun County high school. (He pleaded no contest.) The Smiths were devastated and horrified.

A woman protesting the handling of a sexual assault in Loudoun County School District at a school board meeting on October 26, 2021.

 

A woman protesting the handling of a sexual assault in the Loudoun County School District atttends a school board meeting on October 26, 2021.

The father took this second assault hard. He felt that if he’d been allowed to speak out, this boy would never have had the opportunity to hurt another child.

Aghast, we heard the Loudoun County Public Schools superintendent lie at that June meeting, stating there had been no restroom sexual assaults. We were astounded when we learned of emails revealing that the entire board knew the truth yet didn’t keep this predator out of our schools.

Imagine the Smiths’ outrage when they heard Biberaj, in a televised interview, lay seeds of doubt about the boy’s guilt and claim he was returned to school because he had no prior history of this sort of behavior — when, in fact, he did, in elementary school.

If LCPS had intervened early, the Smiths’ daughter would likely not have been assaulted. If LCPS and Biberaj hadn’t secretly transferred this boy to another school, there would have been no second victim.

Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney Buta Biberaj prosecuted Smith for the fight at the meeting.

 

Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj prosecuted Smith for the fight at the meeting.

The Smiths are committed to ensuring LCPS and Biberaj are held accountable and hope that on Monday, when the assailant is sentenced for his two crimes, he will get a fit punishment as well as the help he needs to become a law-abiding and productive member of society.

Parents are trying to recall school board members Brenda Sheridan and Atoosa Reaser, but Biberaj refuses to recuse herself from these cases, despite being an obvious fact witness with significant bias as part of the process that allowed an accused sex offender back in school. She should recuse herself from any criminal appeal by the rapist, too.

Her involvement will prove our leaders are looking only to protect themselves and their allies — and won’t restore parents’ faith in our education and justice systems after being gaslit by those who are supposed to prioritize student safety over political agendas.

Elicia Brand is founder of Army of Parents, a grassroots organization based in Loudoun County, Va.

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