A jury on Friday found former Loudoun County superintendent Scott Ziegler guilty of retaliating against a teacher for cooperating with Virginia’s grand jury probe into the district’s alleged mishandling of sexual assault cases.

Ziegler wrongfully terminated a teacher who had informed investigators about a sexual assault that happened in her classroom, the jury concluded. After teacher Erin Brooks told prosecutors, sent by Virginia attorney general Jason Miyares, about the incident, Ziegler fired her for working with the grand jury.

The probe, mandated by Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, was launched after the same high school transgender student allegedly sexually assaulted two females in 2021 in the LCPS school district.

The “gender-fluid” male student, who was wearing a skirt at the time, allegedly sodomized a ninth-grade girl in the girl’s bathroom at Stone Bridge High School. The perpetrator was transferred to another LCPS school, Broad Run High School (BRHS), where he allegedly sexually assaulted another female student. He allegedly “abducted” the girl from a hallway and forced her into an empty classroom, where he nearly suffocated and sexually assaulted her. A 15-year-old boy was convicted of both assaults and sentenced to complete a “residential program in a locked-down facility.”

In December 2022, the Loudoun County school board fired Ziegler in a closed-door meeting after the grand jury released a report blaming the district for failing to investigate the cases of student sexual assault. Shortly after, Ziegler, along with a public information officer, was indicted by the grand jury. The disgraced official was charged with one count of false publication, one count of prohibited conduct, and one count of penalizing an employee for a court appearance.