Sheriff Urged To Resign By Advocacy Group After Grand Jury Report On LCPS Assaults

LOUDOUN COUNTY, VA — A local advocacy group is calling for the resignation of Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman after a grand jury report questioned his handling of a pair of high-profile sexual assaults by a student at two high schools.

The group, Loudoun4All, says Chapman failed to cooperate with Loudoun County Public Schools and refused to pursue charges for the suspect until the public began to demand it.

Patch reached out to the sheriff's office for comment, but has not received a response.

The grand jury report found several issues in Loudoun County Public Schools' handling of two sexual assaults in 2021. The same boy was responsible for both assaults.

After committing the first assault in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in May 2021, the teen was transferred to Broad Run High School. There, he sexually assaulted another girl in a classroom in October 2021.

"While we strongly believe LCPS bears the brunt of the blame for the October 6 incident and the transfer of the student from SBHS to BRHS, a breakdown of communication between and amongst multiple parties — including the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office, the Court Services Unit, and the Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office — led to the tragic events that occurred," the grand jury report said.

One of the communication failures occurred after the suspect had been arrested and charged. The superintendent's office was expecting to be notified of any charges that had been filed. The juvenile intake office is the court services unit responsible for processing juveniles when they have been convicted of crimes.

The juvenile intake office attempted to notify the superintendent through an inter-office envelope addressed to an employee who had not worked in the school district since 2014.

"Juvenile intake did not call the superintendent's office, email the superintendent's office, or send a copy of the notification through the mail," the grand jury report said.

It is unclear what happened to the inter-office envelope after it was picked up at the courthouse. "There was no effort from juvenile intake to confirm receipt of the notification."

The grand jury also expressed concerns about the sheriff's office process for charging the suspect.

"We heard testimony that the LCSO 'did not see fit' to charge or arrest the assailant in the wake of the May 28 sexual assault, but that the calculus changed after the June 22, 2021 school board meeting where the father of the victim was arrested, the sexual assault became highly publicized, and Loudoun County was put into the national spotlight," the grand jury reported. "Additionally, after interviewing the victim on May 28 and the assailant on June 1, the LCSO collected very little additional evidence."

The grand jury report also noted that squabbles between the sheriff's office and the school system delayed the beginning of a Title IX investigation.

"It is important to point out the lack of cooperation between LCPS and LCSO was an underlying issue throughout summer 2021. This unquestionably contributed to LCPS' delinquency in opening the Title IX investigation into the SBHS sexual assault," the grand jury claimed. "Though the charging of the SBHS assailant in early July should have been enough for the chief of staff, under his interpretation, to launch a Title IX investigation, LCSO refused to provide the actual charges to LCPS."

Loudoun4All representatives believe the sheriff's office's failures are grounds for Chapman's resignation.

"For his failure to take the initial charges of assault until he was forced to by the public outcry, for his failure to cooperate with LCPS, and for his refusal to provide the charges to LCPS, Loudoun4All feels that Sheriff Chapman also needs to resign," the organization said in a news release.

Scott Ziegler, the superintendent for Loudoun County Public Schools, was fired on Tuesday. The school board removed Ziegler one day after the grand jury report claimed that he acted selfishly in response to the sexual assault cases.

Read more: Loudoun Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler Fired On Tuesday

"They failed at every juncture," the report says of Ziegler and other school administrators. "A remarkable lack of curiosity and adherence to operating in silos by LCPS administrators is ultimately to blame for the October 6 incident."

The full report is available online.

Related:

• Loudoun School Sexual Assaults: Grand Jury Releases Report
• Teen Sentenced For 2 Sexual Assaults At Loudoun County High Schools: Report
• Loudoun Teen Pleads No Contest To 2nd Sexual Assault
• Loudoun Teen Found Guilty Of Assaulting Girl In Bathroom
• Sentence Changed For Teen Convicted In Loudoun Sexual Assaults