Virginia dad who was arrested for confronting school board about daughter's rape pardoned by Glenn Youngkin

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) has officially pardoned Loudoun County father Scott Smith, who was prosecuted and faced a criminal conviction after he had stood up for his daughter at a 2021 school board meeting following a sexual assault and subsequent coverup in the school district.

Smith's daughter was assaulted by a male student wearing a skirt in the female restroom at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021, with a judge later finding the 15-year-old biological male who had committed the act guilty of sexual battery, abduction and two counts of sodomy, according to Fox News. The same student sexually assaulted another student after being moved to a different high school.

"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," Youngkin said in a statement. "In Virginia, parents matter and my resolve to empower parents in unwavering. 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." 

Smith's now-pardoned convictions came from alleged disorderly conduct after he was said to have resisted arrest at a school board meeting in June 2021, when he had put the school board on blast for how it had addressed the sexual assault case.

Just minutes before Smith was arrested at the infamous board meeting, Loudoun County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler had claimed that the school had zero "record of assaults occurring in our restrooms." Ziegler also declared that "the predator transgender student or person simply does not exist," a statement that reportedly enraged Smith at the time.  

Attorneys for Smith put out a statement on the matter Sunday, which read in part: "Because Scott dared to stand up for his daughter, and courageously stood up for all parents of children in the public school system, he was attacked by those who pushed radical school policies over the protection of students, he was vilified by the media, and he was outrageously branded a 'domestic terrorist' by those who believed that parents should not have a say in the education of their children."

"While we did not seek a pardon from Governor Youngkin, and while we were very confident that we would have been able to prove that Scott Smith was innocent of the criminal charges placed against him if the matter had gone to trial, we are nevertheless grateful that the Governor also recognized the wrong done to Scott Smith by the judicial system, and that he has now taken this bold action to right that wrong by this pardon."

Smith has revealed that he is not yet done dealing with the Loudoun County school district.

"While this pardon closes one chapter in this ongoing battle, a new chapter has now begun," said Smith. 

The Virginia father has promised to continue fighting for the rights of his daughter as well as any other "parents and their children who are affected by these misguided and dangerous school policies."