Virginia Attorney General-elect Miyares plans to investigate school assault cases in Loudoun
Virginia Attorney General-elect Miyares plans to investigate school assault cases in Loudoun; chief prosecutor welcomes involvement
By Nathaniel Cline ncline@loudountimes.com Nov 4, 2021 Updated 8 hrs ago
Virginia Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares (R) speaks with reporters on Nov. 4 following his election to office. Pictured at right is Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman (R).
Virginia Attorney General-elect Jason S. Miyares (R) said he plans to investigate Loudoun County Public Schools, as well as recent sexual assaults that took place on LCPS campuses and will develop legislation allowing his office to intervene when chief law enforcement officials believe the prosecutors are not doing an adequate job.
Miyares, who spoke to reporters on Thursday, referenced prosecutors in northern Virginia as the impetus for the decision. Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman (R) joined the attorney general-elect for questions.
"We're obviously aware of some pretty horrific cases ... if there's anything that I want to bring back to the forefront in this process are the victims, Miyares said.
As a former prosecutor, those are the individuals that you remember the victims, he said. I don't remember the defendants much and so that's been a little bit of my frustration that I've seen as I think the victims have been forgotten. And when prosecutors are making plea deals on child rape cases, over the objection of the family, I have a serious problem with that. So, we're going to have a legislative fix on that.
Loudoun County Commonwealths Attorney Buta Biberaj (D) said she welcomes the attorney general-elect and governor-elect's involvement in investigating the assault cases from Loudoun County Public Schools.
She reiterated that the office was not involved or consulted during the investigation and is confident that revisiting the cases will create better collaboration with law enforcement.
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Miyares defeated the incumbent, Mark Herring (D) by 1.3 percentage points in Tuesdays statewide election. Herring conceded on Wednesday.
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