Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has pardoned a father convicted of disorderly conduct at a school board meeting after his daughter was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom.

The New York Times reports that Scott Smith angrily confronted Loudoun County school board members and others at a June 2021 meeting, accusing the school board of “covering up” his daughter’s May assault in the restroom at Stone Bridge High School by a then-14-year-old boy who was reportedly wearing a skirt.

The New York Times reports that Smith got into an argument with another woman in the audience during the already contentious school board meeting, clenching his fists and called her a b****. The woman accused him of lying. Deputies tried to pull him away, but he resisted, and they took him to the ground before arresting him.

Smith was convicted of two misdemeanors and sentenced to 10 days in jail, suspended, contingent on a year’s good behavior.

Following school board incident, the student who assaulted Smith’s daughter was transferred to a different school — where he assaulted another girl in October. The male student was eventually charged and convicted on forcible sodomy charges.

Two weeks before Smith’s daughter was assaulted, a teacher’s assistant wrote to administrators about the boy —  he “seems to have a problem with listening and keeping his hands to himself,” she wrote, and “I have caught him sitting on other girls’ laps several times,” the Times wrote.

So near to the end of the school year, nothing was done. On May 28, the boy and Smith’s daughter — who had become friends — texted each other in class to meet in a restroom, as they had done previously. This time, however, he raped her.

In court, she testified that she had resisted when he began to touch her, but he became aggressive. He raped her anally and forced her to perform oral sex on him. When they left the bathroom, the girl went straight to the nurse’s office.

A grand jury investigated the allegations of a cover up and returned indictments against the superintendent and the district spokesman for mishandling the investigation, saying the second assault could have been avoided. But it found no evidence that the administration or board engaged in any kind of cover up, Loudon Now reported.

Superintendent Scott Ziegler was fired after the indictments and is set to go on trial later this month on misdemeanor charges of false publication, prohibited conduct, and penalizing an employee for a court appearance. Spokesman Wayde Byard was acquitted of a perjury charge earlier this year.

Youngkin discussed Smith’s case frequently on the campaign trail in 2021 while running for the post. He granted the absolute pardon on September 10, 2023.

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[FILE – Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)]