The 15-year-old male who was convicted of raping a teen girl in a high school bathroom in Loudoun County, Virginia, pleaded no contest to charges of abduction and sexual battery in a second case, ABC7 News reported Monday.
According to the report, a prosecutor said the boy had forced a female student into an empty classroom at Broad Run High School, also in Loudoun County, and touched her private areas without her consent.
With a no-contest plea, the teen did not admit guilt but agreed the prosecution had sufficient evidence for a conviction.
The boy is scheduled to be sentenced for both cases on December 13. At most, he could face remaining in a juvenile prison until he turns 21, said Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj.
The suspect’s mother told ABC7 News, “My son is young and has a lot to learn. I hope he is given the opportunity to be better.”
In late October, Juvenile Court Judge Pamela Brooks found the boy guilty of forcible sodomy and forcible fellatio. The boy, dressed in a skirt, had entered the girls’ bathroom at Stone Bridge High School, where he attacked the teen girl.
At around the time of the attack, the school district was weighing a transgender bathroom policy whereby students could use the bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity, rather than their biological sex.
Scott Smith, whose daughter was assaulted during the first incident in May, had been dragged out of a school board meeting and arrested on June 22 after hearing school officials deny there had been reports of sexual assaults in the schools.
Loudoun County Superintendent Scott Ziegler also stated he was unaware of any assaults happening in the bathrooms, but then later acknowledged, following parents’ outrage, the school district had “failed” to provide safety for its students.
The Loudoun County School District moved the teen suspect from Stone Bridge High School following the first attack and into Broad Run High.
Jessica Smith, the mother of the first victim, said in a statement:
Today is not just another day for our family. It is a day that further vindicates my daughter against her attacker, holds him accountable for what he did, and helps advance the healing of both our daughter and our family from the suffering we have endured over these past months.
An investigation has also been underway in Loudoun County by the sheriff’s office after multiple other reported incidents of a male student touching other students inappropriately in Harmony Middle School.
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