The mother of the 15-year-old boy who dressed in a skirt and raped a female classmate in the girl's bathroom and was then charged with...
The mother of the 15-year-old boy who dressed in a skirt and raped a female classmate in the girl's bathroom and was then charged with sexually assaulting another girl months later says her son doesn't identify as a female, and it wasn't just some disguise to slip into the girl's bathroom.
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com, the mother, who asked not to be identified for the sake of her underage son, defended his actions as that of a heterosexual, hormonal teen who, in the case of the rape, had consensual sex with the girl twice before.
'He's a 15-year-old boy that wanted to have sex in the bathroom, with somebody that was willing,' she declared, sitting in an empty kitchen in her townhouse in Loudoun County, Virginia. 'And they're twisting this just enough to make it a political hot button issue.'
The story exploded when Scott Smith, the father of the rape victim, was dragged out of a school board meeting with a bloodied mouth on June 22 after listening to school officials deny that a girl had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom after his daughter had reported the rape.
The case became the searing tip of a raging debate in Loudoun County over transgender students' rights and parents' freedom of speech.
The school board has been routinely accused of pushing an ultra-liberal agenda on kids and parents and silencing those who disagree with them.
The scandal even entered Virginia's race for governor, giving life to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin who accused the Loudon school board of a coverup while warning, 'What tragedy next awaits our children?'
The row over transgender policies at Loudoun County, Virginia schools has divided parents and teachers for months and came to a head when the father of a girl who was sexually assaulted in the girl's bathroom by a boy dressed in a skirt was beaten up at a school board meeting. Now the mother of the 15-year-old boy has spoken out to DailyMail.com
Outraged parents are pictured at the meeting where the victim's father was dragged out and arrested. His mother said his actions were that of a heterosexual, hormonal teen, who had consensual sex with the girl twice before
The scandal even entered Virginia's race for governor, giving life to the campaign of Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin (right) who accused the Loudon school board of a coverup. His opponent Terry McAuliffe is seen (left)
Despite his androgynous style and declaration that he's 'pansexual,' the boy's mother insisted he isn't the gender fluid boogeyman in a culture war about transgender policies.
'He would wear a skirt one day and then the next day, he would wear jeans and a t-shirt, a Polo or hoodie,' she explained. 'He was trying to find himself and that involved all kinds of styles. I believe he was doing it because it gave him attention he desperately needed and sought.'
At the same time, she concedes her son is deeply troubled, acknowledging his extensive history of misbehavior that included sending nude photos of himself to a girl in fifth grade.
She reached her own breaking point with the him in early October when he phoned her from the juvenile detention center following his second arrest.
'He asked me how I was doing, and I said, ''I'm broken, I'm shattered, you shattered me,'' the mom recalled. ''Do you have any idea what you've done to me, what you've done to your family?
'And his response was, ''No, what did I do?'' she said.
She had been his primary point of contact, with his dad living in New Jersey.
'At that point, I was like, 'You know what? I love you, I always will, I will do everything I can to always be there for you in any capacity possible,' she said. 'But I told him - 'You need to call your father for now on. Do not call me. I need to heal, and I need you to figure this out for yourself.'
That was Sunday, October 10. She did show up for his juvenile court appearance last Monday. She sat in the gallery while fuming at the boy's father who defied her wishes by showing up with his wife.
'He'd asked about bringing his wife and I said ''she's the reason you have been absent in (our son's) life. I hate her, I don't want her in the courthouse,'' she recalled telling him. 'I'm in the mix every day dealing with three probation officers, detectives, the Commonwealth and I don't know how many lawyers, and you're in your own little safety bubble in New Jersey.'
'And he didn't listen to me,' the mother told DailyMail.com, shaking her head and adding, 'They even brought a friend.'
On October 25, the teen was found guilty for the May 28 sexual assault at Stone Bridge High School. The judge 'substantiated' charges of forcible sodomy and forcible fellatio, the juvenile equivalent of a conviction.
He was sent back to juvenile detention, pending a hearing November 15 on the second case which occurred at Broad Run High School in the same county on October 6, a month after the district transferred him there.
In that incident, he allegedly pulled a girl into a classroom and inappropriately touched her.
Scott Smith, the victim's father, was pictured with a bloody mouth, being dragged out of a school board meeting on June 22 - a month after the attack - after listening to school officials say no one had been sexually assaulted in the bathrooms when that's what his daughter had reported the previous month
The victim's parents were ridiculed by the left after her father Scott Smith was pictured being dragged out of a school board meeting on June 22. They say they now feel vindicated
The saga garnered worldwide attention as details were leaked. Irate parents accused the district of a coverup, questioning how a teen with a pending rape case was allowed to stay in the district to commit another sex crime.
The first victim's father Scott Smith, meanwhile, blasted trans bathroom rules that he said allowed a 'gender fluid' boy to enter the bathroom and rape his daughter, fanning a national debate over transgender bathroom policy.
It wasn't long before stories about the teen's past began to surface and spread among parents and activists who were demanding to know what else the district may have covered up.
One involved an incident from fifth grade, when the boy was 11 and sent nude photos of himself to a female classmate. Sources told DailyMail.com that police got involved but that the girl's parents decided against pursuing charges, so long as the district kept him away from their daughter.
The mom confirmed the account, but snapped, 'What the f**k does that have to do with anything?'
She said the politics surrounding the case has gotten out of hand.
'What are they trying to do?' she asked. 'Did they hire an investigator to dig up everything and ruin him for the rest of his life?'
The mother made no secret of the fact her son had been repeatedly suspended for misbehavior, including fist fights with classmates.
'He's been a challenging child his whole life, which I've dealt with myself,' the mother said. 'My son's gone through multiple forms of counseling and therapy, resources here, at school, friends, family. It's been 15 years of hell trying to get him to do better and be better.'
Born in New Jersey, her son was just a baby when she and the father split. She packed up and left for Virginia in late 2007.
She enrolled her son in elementary school in Fairfax County before moving to Loudoun County. She described him as a smart kid who took several AP classes but didn't do much homework and earned average grades.
He'd frequently act out, she said, and she'd do her best to dissect each incident with him.
After he sent the lewd photos in fifth grade, the mom said, 'I walked him through every message exchange, photo exchange, and broke it down.
'I was like, 'Okay, this is what you sent,' she recalled telling him. 'What were you thinking? What were you hoping to get out of this?' and then I'd be like, 'This is not respectful. I did not raise you to be like this.'
The boy would spend Christmas with his dad in New Jersey. After Christmas 2018, she said, 'He came back more defiant than usual' and asked to live with his father and stepmom. He spent the next year-plus in the Garden State. It was during that period that he started having sex at age 13, the mom said.
In June 2020, he moved back in with his mom. The next year, his world imploded.
The rape happened the afternoon of May 28, the Friday before Memorial Day.
His victim admitted they'd previously had sex in the bathroom and that they'd arranged to meet there again at lunchtime.
Superintendent Scott Ziegler claimed on June 22 that he'd received 'no report' of a sexual assault in the school bathrooms. On May 28, the day it happened, he sent this email to colleagues confirming that it had been reported. 'This afternoon, a female student alleged that a male student sexually assaulted her in the restroom'
Amanda Shallant (pictured) spoke during a school board meeting last week as she held a sign that read: 'LCPS protects rapists'
According to her testimony, he followed her into a stall, where she told him she was not in the mood for sex, but he threw her on the floor and forced her to perform sex acts.
'He flipped me over,' she reportedly said in court. 'I was on the ground and couldn't move and he sexually assaulted me.'
He only stopped, she said, when someone else walked in.
She reported it, and the investigation began.
Later that same day, the boy's mom was summoned to the school, where they told her there'd been an incident involving her son.
She wasn't given details and left the school without knowing what he'd done.
So she took her son to a nearby library where she sat him down on a bench to ask.
'And so, I got his side of the story,' the mom said. 'At that point, I was like, okay, well this is going to be a sh*tstorm.'
The teen told his mother about his past 'hookups' with the girl and noted that on May 28, they were planning to get together again in the bathroom.
Loudoun County Schools Superintendent Scott Ziegler apologized for failing to provide a 'safe' environment for students
But that day, she was sick. He told his mom that he'd accompanied her to the bathroom earlier in the day to make sure she was okay.
'He said she wasn't feeling well that day and that was the reason they entered the bathroom a first time that day,' the mom told DailyMail.com. 'He was worried about her, asked her how she was feeling, touched her forehead, brought water for her.'
According to the son, they talked about having sex later in the day.
'He'd mentioned something about hooking up with her, said they'd discussed it that day and that she was wishy-washy, was like, yeah, 'maybe, I still don't feel well, we'll see,' the mom recalled.
He followed her into the bathroom a second time that afternoon.
'It started with, 'Are you feeling okay' and her responding that she was feeling much better than this morning,' she said, relaying her son's account. 'And he advanced.'
He depicted the rape as an accident, telling his mother he didn't mean to insert himself in her anus and was surprised when it caused her pain.
'He said he was intending for vaginal and it ended up for 10 seconds as anal,' the mom recalled.
'He knew she was in pain,' she said. 'He said,' 'Are you okay?'' She said that hurt. And he's like, what kind of pain?'
She believed her son's version of events.
'He was showing genuine concern,' she said.
Then she proceeded to berate the girl, expressing doubts even after a judge found her son guilty.
'If I was in a position where I was about to be raped, I would be screaming, kicking, everything,' she said. 'You're 15. You can reasonably defend yourself. You're not just going to sit there and take it. And so, because there wasn't a presence of a fight, he felt it was okay to keep going.'
She said the girl didn't immediately report it. First, the two went to study hall where she told a girlfriend what happened, the mom said. The girlfriend became furious and confronted him. He in turn confronted the victim, asking what she'd said. A short time later, she went to the principal's office to report the rape.
The boy's mother accompanied him back to school the following Tuesday. She said it was then that the principal broached another subject - her son's gender identity. He was wearing a skirt at the time of the attack.
'The principal of Stone Bridge was trying to delicately tap dance the sensitive situation,' she told DailyMail.com. 'So I was like, ''Alright, can you please just ask the question you want to ask?''
'That's when he was like, ''Oh, well, what does he identify as?'' she recalled.
'He identifies as male,' she replied.
'Oh, we never knew that,' he told her. 'And I said, ''Did anybody ever ask?''
Gender identity would later become a central issue in the public sphere as conservative activists singled out her son as an example of why transgender bathrooms are dangerous.
She found it disturbing, and offensive.
'First of all, he is not transgender,' she told DailyMail.com. 'And I think this is all doing an extreme disservice to those students who actually identify as transgender.'
She said that while her son was indeed wearing a skirt, he doesn't identify as a girl, and it wasn't just some disguise to slip into the girl's bathroom.
'He would wear a skirt one day and then the next day, he would wear jeans and a t-shirt, a Polo or hoodie,' she explained. 'He was trying to find himself and that involved all kinds of styles. I believe he was doing it because it gave him attention he desperately needed and sought.'
Scott Mineo with Parents Against Critical Race Theory puts signs in the ground as people gather to protest at the Loudoun County school board meeting last week
It wasn't until July 6 that the detective called the boy's mother to report his imminent arrest. She chose to drive him down the station herself. He spent the next couple weeks at the juvenile detention center in nearby Leesburg, where she spoke with him each day by phone and twice a week via Skype.
After his release in late July, she spent weeks trying to work on his behavior.
'We worked hard through reading books and digging through baggage and, you know, addressing whatever demons he may hold towards his father, towards me, towards life, you know, to get him to do better and to be better,' she told DailyMail.com. 'We spent the whole summer, every day. I mean, 15 years of his life, breaking down the incident and breaking down respect and consideration with women.'
Juvenile Court judge Pamela Brooks agreed with the girl and her parents, saying there was enough evidence to prove the teen boy - who is also charged in another sexual assault - forced himself on her
Come August, it was also time to prepare for school, a challenge because the court ordered that he not return to Stone Bridge.
'I asked my lawyer and noted the court order says he can't go back to Stone Bridge, what am I doing for school? And my lawyer's like, woo, good question.'
She said she contacted the Stone Bridge principal, who at the time was still preparing for him to return there. Later she spoke with Dr. Douglas Fulton, the Loudoun County School District's director of school administration.
'That's when he (Fulton) informed me of Title 9, and LCPS' role in Title 9 and how it all works,' she recalled. 'He told me that my son had the right to return to Stone Bridge because LCPS could not conduct an investigation or determine disciplinary action until the law enforcement aspect was completed.'
'And thus ensued this conversation in which I'm stuck in the middle,' she said. 'I've got the judicial side of Virginia citing a court order and saying judicial trumps the education department, and I was like, no, the education department is under the executive branch. Y'all can't trump each other.'
'They weren't communicating at all,' she added. 'So I was like, you guys need to talk. And so that ultimately happened.'
The district transferred her son to Broad Run, where he missed the first 10 days as everything was sorted out, she said.
She arranged to meet with the new principal.
'So we finally had that meeting and then…, ' she said. Her voice trialed off.. but she alluded to the October 6 incident involving her son.
Her son allegedly dragged a girl into a classroom and inappropriately touched her, she said. Police were called and he was arrested the same day. His mother said she didn't get notified until that evening.
She blamed politics for the 'quick processing' of the second incident, and said that was also likely a factor in why they delayed alerting her.
Still, she doesn't know what to make of the charges. She respects the lead detective in the case and doesn't question there was an incident.
But she added, 'I didn't hear my son's side of it because he was being hauled into JDC before I could talk to him.'
The case has since exploded in the media.
'Both you and I know this (transgender policy) has been a hot topic for close to 10 years now,' she told DailyMail.com. 'Parents were looking for that one case and that one piece of evidence that shows that boys are going to take advantage of this to rape their daughters. That's been in the mix since transgender ID was even presented as a possibility of a policy. And so, it happened.'
The decision of Scott Smith, the father of the first victim, to publicly lash out drew national attention.
Parents stood outside a school board meeting last week holding placards that read: 'Protect girls not gender' and' 'women and girls are not collateral damage'
She had strong words for him and associates.
'News of the second incident and, having been told through informal channels that it was (the same boy), made him snap,' she said. 'And so he was not going to be quieted and he was going to let the world know that his daughter was raped by this transgender boy that took advantage of trans gender policies, and that LCDS needs to reverse their policies.'
She also accused associates of the Smith family of leaking sealed info.
'So between Scott being all riled up from his position [and leaked information] it was inevitable for this to spread like wildfire,' she said.
It's turned her community into ground zero in a cultural war over transgender policy, with district protests, walkouts and demands for resignations.
'Everybody in this county is afraid to sneeze wrong if they have any sort of connection to this case, afraid it's going to ruin their career,' she said.
'What is the end game on this?' she added. 'My son's going to be going on the sexual registry and be committed to Meghan's Law for the rest of his life because he had 15-year-old hormones.'
After two weeks of silence, she spoke with her son Sunday night. She said she had to ask him some questions in preparation for a meeting concerning his Individualized Education Program. It got ugly, quickly, when she brought up his dad.
'I asked him if he was talking to his father and how that was going,' she said. 'And he's like, it was nice feeling that his dad had his back whereas other people who previously had his back had fallen off.
'It was another sharp stab to my gut,' she said. 'And I asked him again, have you figured out what you've done? And he said no. I was like, dude, you have no idea what's going on.'
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