Loudoun County father arrested at school board meeting for standing up for kids and against leftist indoctrination cleared of wrongdoing
A Loudoun County dad was criminally charged and smeared as an extremist after he took a stand at a school board meeting in June 2021 against leftist indoctrination and "moral decay." On Wednesday, he was cleared of wrongdoing.
After his vindication in court, Jon Tigges told TheBlaze that while he does not advocate getting arrested, every person has to come to their own understanding of "what God is calling them to say and do."
For some, this might mean they "simply stop living their life on Facebook and have someone over for dinner. For others, it may be reconciling with estranged family members. ... But to do nothing in the midst of decay and injustice is disobedience [to God]," he added. "The greatest paradox is that we must die to truly live."
What's the background?
Jon Tigges was arrested on June 22, 2021, and charged with trespassing after he refused to leave a Loudoun County school board meeting that apparently did not go the way the board members wanted.
TheBlaze previously reported that the district and its board had made national headlines over the "pornographic" content in assigned books, their mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the suspension of a Christian teacher who opposed transsexual policies, and a student claim that the administrators' admission of transsexuals into girls' locker rooms put her in danger.
Over 250 people signed up to express their concerns about the school board's proposed transsexual accommodations, critical race theory, and other leftist designs foisted upon kids in the county.
Officials tried to prematurely end the meeting while concerned citizens, including Tigges, attempted to give their testimonies.
According to Loudoun Now, school board chairman Brenda Sheridan (Sterling) halted the meeting, claiming that members of the crowd were being disorderly. Superintendent Scott Ziegler, who was indicted over his handling of transsexual rapes and fired last month, then declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly," ordering the board room to be cleared.
Tigges told the sheriff clearing the room that he intended to stay until everyone had an opportunity to speak — only 51 of the 259 had been heard — and that the meeting, which was scheduled to run at least another hour, was technically not over.
He was handcuffed and dragged outside.
In a video of the arrest, Tigges can be heard informing the deputies taking him away, "This is an unlawful arrest. I have a First Amendment right."
\u201cTwo arrests made at the Loudoun County, Virginia school board meeting after it was declared an unlawful assembly and some parents here to protest against critical race theory and a transgender policy refused to leave right away #CriticalRaceTheory\u201d— Gabriella Borter (@Gabriella Borter) 1624390451
In September 2021, Tigges was found guilty of trespassing by Judge Ian Williams in a Virginia district court.
Tigges announced his appeal soon thereafter, noting, "Public officials can't stop public comments just because they don’t like what is being said, nor can they demand that attendees not make noise of any kind."
Judge Douglas Fleming Jr. of the 20th Judicial Circuit in Virginia happened to agree with him.
\u201c\u201cNot guilty\u201d\n\nRuling today on my arrest for trespassing at the 6/22/21 Loudoun County School Board meeting.\u201d— Jon Tigges (@Jon Tigges) 1672863554
Vindicated
On Wednesday, Fleming cleared Tigges of any wrongdoing.
Fleming found both that Tigges had a First Amendment right to attend the meeting and that Ziegler had no right to declare the meeting an "unlawful assembly," thereby nullifying the grounds for the trespassing charge, reported the Federalist.
"Unlike the first two judges who ruled against my case, Judge Fleming actually made a ruling based on state statutes. ... The first judge stated that since Ziegler didn’t 'feel safe” he could have peaceful protesters arrested. The second judge determined that a person’s constitutional right to speech and assembly were not allowed during a meeting recess," Tigges told TheBlaze. "Three's a charm I guess."
Tigges suggested that the ordeal opened his eyes "to just how deep and dark the rabbit hole of evil really is. Helped me see that real freedom is grounded on (1) faith, (2) family, and (3) friends — not government."
The Loudoun father indicated that his grounding is now firmer than its ever been. "God has never been more real or personal in my life," he said.
In terms of his family and friends, Tigges credits his wife, Chris, for withstanding what was "really a rough ride" and coming out even stronger and the "amazing people we met through this."
Even his wedding venue business, Zion Springs, which was canceled by its major referrers such as WeddingWire and TheKnot, and ultimately lost over $1 million in revenue, has rebounded, enjoying its best year ever in 2022.
While his business turns a profit, Tigges noted that he has profited from the insights he gleaned during this protracted battle to peaceably assemble and speak out against the school board's adoption and advancement of radical leftist agendas — a battle in which he and parents like him were smeared as domestic terrorists by the National School Boards Association and by elements of the Biden administration.
"I learned that I needed to stop expecting someone else to do something and take responsibility for what I could influence. That started with a long look in the mirror and realizing I had neglected giving time, treasure, and talents to my community," he said.
Tigges noted that he will move forward with the understanding that "the biggest problem ... was not that bad people are going to do bad things. I knew that already. The solution is to get good people to do good things."
"God's people sin by their silence. Faith without works is dead," Tigges suggested, noting, "We don't trust God when we display inaction in the face of justice."
The Loudoun father called on other Christians to similarly look in the mirror and to challenge "the depravity all around them. The Bible is clear that change in our world starts with the Church."
\u201cNothing will change until We the People value conviction over comfort. Despite the many bad actors here in Loudoun, I\u2019m most concerned about those who call themselves Christians. Many haven\u2019t lifted a finger or opened their mouths in protest to the depravity all around them.\u201d— Jon Tigges (@Jon Tigges) 1672863554
Tigges indicated he will be launching a podcast on Friday called "Bedrock Blueprints," in which he'll discuss frameworks based on truth.
Grand Jury: Legal Counsel For Loudoun County School Board Engaged In Witness Tampering During Sexual Assault Investigation
A legal rep for the Loudoun County School Board engaged in witness tampering during an investigation into an alleged sexual assault.Soros-backed attorney who got rapist released thrown off case of victim's father
On September 2, Republican Circuit Court Judge James Plowman kicked a George Soros-backed prosecutor off the case of a man convicted of disorderly conduct. Plowman reckoned Loudoun County commonwealth’s attorney Buta Biberaj's impartiality was dubious as it pertained to 48-year-old Scott Smith, the father arrested for expressing outrage in a school board meeting over the permissive LGBT policies that enabled a rapist to attack his daughter in a girls' washroom.
Biberaj, who fought for jail time and anger management for Smith, oversaw the case of the very rapist who attacked Smith's daughter. Her office recommended that the rapist, charged with forcible sodomy, be released with an ankle monitor and enrolled in a different school. Upon his release, the suspect is said to have sexually assaulted another child in a classroom.
The 48-year-old Smith, who seeks to appeal his conviction, will now have his case prosecuted by Stafford County commonwealth’s attorney Eric Olsen.
According to Smith's lawyer Bill Stanley, Biberaj was biased against his client, which would compromise the integrity of the trial. He and Smith filed a motion for Biberaj's recusal on October 22, 2021.
In his decision to appoint a special prosecutor in Smith's appeal, Plowman cited the need to protect the "integrity of the Defendant's due process rights."
Smith took comfort in Plowman's decision. He told Fox News Digital, "From the beginning, Ms. Biberaj has sought to make an example of me for simply standing up to defend my daughter."
"Biberaj has demonstrated a bias against me throughout the court proceedings," said Smith, "and she has continued to fan the flames of those who would label parents like me who stand in protection of their kids against dangerous school policies as being 'domestic terrorists.'"
Stanley similarly lauded the decision, writing, "The Court's Order today has corrected at least in some measure the injustice created by Ms. Biberaj's bias against [Smith], and has restored his hope for a fair trial on the remaining charge against him in his quest to protect his beloved daughter."
Biberaj told WTOP, "I'm surprised by the court's decision, since I was never given the opportunity to come back and have conversations about the disorderly conduct."
Biberaj removed and disqualified
This is not the first time Biberaj has been kicked off a case by Plowman.
In June, when seeking a plea deal for serial burglary suspect Kevin Enrique Valle, Biberaj downplayed and omitted relevant details about Valle's criminal past, including recent charges against him in other jurisdictions. Biberaj allegedly attempted to gloss over the fact that Valle was accused of "a possible 12 burglary crime spree spanning four counties over ten days."
Plowman characterized Biberaj's assessment not only as "entirely inaccurate" but "an overt misrepresentation by omission."
The judge noted further that "the Commonwealth is deliberately misleading the Court, and the public," writing ultimately, "Biberaj ... is hereby REMOVED AND DISQUALIFIED from further prosecution as counsel of record in this matter."
Extra to potentially misleading the public, there is some indication that Biberaj's progressive approach may be endangering the public. According to WTTG, since Biberaj's election in 2020, criminal indictments in the county have fallen dramatically by 67%, despite an increase in arrests.
In one instance, Biberaj's office released a man charged with brutally assaulting, strangling, and abducting his wife, Regina Redman Lollobrigido. After his release, he allegedly went on to savage and kill Regina with a hammer.
In addition to working to get criminals off, Biberaj also has worked with them. Last year, her office hired a registered sex offender, convicted of a child pornography charge, as a paralegal.
Scott's quest to protect his daughter
On May 28, 2021, Scott Smith's ninth-grade daughter was raped in a bathroom at Stone Bridge High School in Loudoun County, Virginia. The offender was a 15-year-old male wearing a dress, who had taken advantage of the school's transsexual policies. The school failed to report the assault in its rape statistics.
Although that aggressor was arrested, found guilty on all charges, and ultimately placed on a sex offender registry, he was soon released by Biberaj's office and placed in another school, Broad Run, where he allegedly committed sexual battery against another child.
A month after the rape at Stone Bridge, the Loudoun County school board held a meeting in which board members suggested that the school's so-called "gender-fluid" bathrooms were not to blame. The board also indicated that it had not received reports of assaults in the girls' bathrooms.
Smith, outraged like many in the community, went to one such school board meeting on June 22 seeking answers. Instead, he received handcuffs.
At the meeting where parents called for Superintendent for Loudoun County Public Schools Dr. Scott Ziegler to be fired as well as for board members to resign, LGBT activists jeered and mocked a distraught Smith.
Smith raised his voice when an activist in rainbow-colored garb allegedly was denying that Smith's daughter had been attacked and began threatening to ruin his family. Police subsequently tackled him to the ground and then detained him.
Man tackled during Loudoun County board of education meeting | FOX 5 DC Scott Smith's arrest
Smith was convicted of disorderly conduct. Now with Biberaj dismissed from the case, he hopes to appeal that misdemeanor charge.
'INSANE' email sent to all Loudoun County school principals shows what they REALLY think of parents
Loudoun County Public Schools are in hot water again. Remember, this is the school district that brutalized, arrested, and then smeared as a "domestic terrorist" the father of one of two girls who were sexually assaulted by a "boy in a skirt."
Then, in what might be an attempt to distract people from its abysmal handling of a known rapist in the schools, the school district went full draconian overlord on "mask enforcement," bucking Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R) executive order empowering parents to decide whether their children wear face masks in schools.
Recently, Loudoun County Public Schools sent out an email to all principals, according to Twitter user Ned Ryan, and it looks like they don't take kindly to those pesky parents who think they have rights in public schools. Here are a few of the email's friendly reminders:
- Parents should only be admitted at [staff] discretion.
- While parents have certain educational rights, they do NOT have the right to enter your school without proper vetting and permission.
- For parents picking up kids, consider keeping them outside and bring their child to them.
- For non-compliant peaceful parents or students, SRO's and Safety and Security will support school admin with a visible deterrent ....
This was sent out by \u2066@LCPSOfficial\u2069 to all Principals in Loudoun County this afternoon. And these people think they\u2019re on the right side of science and history. . .pic.twitter.com/8jnUR01eWq— Ned Ryun (@Ned Ryun) 1644199813
Parents and fellow Twitter users were not too happy:
Stay Safe, fellow Totalitarians!— Zachary Preferred Pronouns (He, His Majesty) (@Zachary Preferred Pronouns (He, His Majesty)) 1644235542
This is insane! And John Clark is an arrogant, condescending, piece of work. LCPS response to parents has been miserable since he came on board.— Debbie (@Debbie) 1644208423
https://twitter.com/lcpsdobetter/status/1490403107846725633\u00a0\u2026— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Neanderthal Steve I am\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8Neanderthal Steve I am\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1644231616
So we pay school taxes for our schools to act like dictators. These are our kids that we pay them to teach. These teachers screamed police reform when we need teacher reform. Stat!— \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8PhishieFromPhilly\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8PhishieFromPhilly\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1644240912
SHE HAD THE RECEIPTS: Last year the Prince William County School Superintendent claimed \u201cher hands were tied\u201d by then-governor Northam's mask mandate for students...\n\nWATCH Virginia mom Merianne Jensen call out the hypocrisypic.twitter.com/BzkyumkRbo— The Daily Signal (@The Daily Signal) 1643915639
'Active cover-up': Victim's parents rage after Loudoun County won't release report on 'boy in a skirt' sexual assault
The parents of a ninth-grade girl who was sexually assaulted in a women's bathroom by a gender-fluid "boy in a skirt" classmate in Loudoun County last year are outraged after the county's progressive school board decided not to publicly release a report on the incident and others that were similar.
What are the details?
In a statement issued Friday, the girl's parents, Scott and Jessica Smith, slammed the school district, claiming that board members were continuing to skirt responsibility for horrific incidents that took place at Loudoun County schools last year amid the district's move to open up bathrooms for transgender students.
The father, Scott Brown, was arrested during a raucous school board meeting in June 2021 while raising awareness about the incident involving his daughter. He would later go public, accusing the district of intentionally burying details about sexual assault incidents.
"We believe that once again LCPS continues to engage in an active cover-up, and are attempting to avoid being accountable to the victims and their families," Friday's statement read.
"The question must be asked — how can an outside independent investigation, funded by the taxpayers, not be released and is instead kept secret from the public?" it continued. "While the school system's law firm continues to hide the truth, our lawyers will reveal the truth during the course of our Title IX lawsuit against Loudoun County.”
The family of the young girl that was sexually assaulted in a #loudouncounty bathroom has posted a statement and they are rightfully not happy that @LCPSOfficial will not release the report of its independent investigation into a clear cover up. #releasethereportpic.twitter.com/UyUz8GRQHD— Ian Prior (@Ian Prior) 1642208704
The parents' fury came in response to a school board press release on Friday, in which the board stated it would not release a taxpayer-funded report documenting the incidents in order to protect the privacy of the families involved.
"First and foremost, the report cannot be released because the privacy of the families involved must be protected," the board said. "The national interest in this investigation would preclude any chance of allowing the families to heal in private and to move forward with dignity. The Division and our Board believe we must do whatever we can to avoid retraumatizing the students and the families involved in the incidents."
What's the background?
Smith claims that last year when he was informed of the sexual assault against his daughter, administration officials at her high school told him they would handle the incident "in-house." But nothing substantial followed. Then later, in October, the gender-fluid boy was accused of assaulting another female classmate.
At the time, LCPS was pushing a policy that would allow students to use a bathroom that aligns with their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
Last week, the 15-year-old "boy in a skirt" who committed the sexual assaults was ordered by a judge to undergo psychological treatment at a juvenile detention center. The judge presiding over the case also took an action that she has never taken before: She ordered the juvenile to register as a sex offender for life.
According to WTOP-TV, the teen was found guilty of one felony count of forcible sodomy and one felony count of forcible fellatio in a May 28 incident at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn. That incident is reportedly the one involving the Smiths' daughter. He was also found guilty on one felony count of abduction and one misdemeanor count of sexual battery in a separate assault involving a second victim at Broad Run High School on Oct. 6
During his sentencing, the judge said she decided to make the teen register as a sex offender after viewing frightening results from a court-ordered psychological evaluation.
"Yours scares me," the judge said. "What I read scares me for yourself, your family, and society in general. Young man, you need a lot of help.”
Anything else?
When Smith spoke out about his daughter's assault last year, the controversy became a national story. But the LCPS board has denied that it was aware of the sexual assault allegations. However, many — including the Smiths — think the board has covered up its involvement in an effort to avoid a national media firestorm.
Barring the public release of the report, any information incriminating LCPS board members will likely remain hidden.
In one of his first actions after taking office this week, Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin instructed his attorney general to investigate the school district's response to the two sexual assaults.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a statement that “Loudoun County Public Schools covered up a sexual assault on school grounds for political gain, leading to an additional assault of a young girl."
“What we’re going to be looking into is the entire circumstances around the decisions that were made to actually move this young man from one school to another, to not inform parents, to not inform the community and oh, by the way, clearly to put other students in risk for their safety,” Youngkin reportedly added in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
www.theblaze.com
www.theblaze.com