A convicted sex offender was able to work as a Northern Virginia school counselor for months after his conviction before he was fired. News4’s Aimee Cho reports.
UPDATE (Aug. 23, 2022): The Chesterfield County Police Department in Virginia has confirmed there were problems with their efforts to notify Fairfax County officials of Thornton's crimes. Records Administrator Karen Leonard said the sender from the police department sent a notice to two email addresses minutes apart provided by a person described only as “someone in a Fairfax County Public Schools” office. “Today, upon further investigation, we learned that the emails did come back to that employee’s spam folder as undeliverable,” Leonard said Monday. Read more here.
Initial article; published Aug. 19, 2022:
A convicted sex offender was able to work as a Northern Virginia school counselor for months after his conviction before he was fired.
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Darren L. Thornton, 50, was arrested twice on charges of sex crimes, yet somehow managed to keep working at Fairfax County Public Schools for nearly two years after his first arrest. Court documents show that in November 2020, Thornton was indicted on charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor in Chesterfield County, Virginia. He was convicted in March 2022 and sentenced to five years suspended.
Just a few months later, in June, Thornton was arrested again for solicitation of prostitution.
Chesterfield County Police told News4 they notified Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) nearly two years ago, right after Thornton was arrested the first time. They say they called FCPS again in June after Thornton’s second arrest, because they were concerned he was still listed on Glasgow Middle School's website as a counselor.
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Glasgow Middle School students and their families said they're disturbed by the news.
"I thought it was pretty scary how someone in the school did that, and so I was pretty scared to go to the school," said student Ashwin George.
Ashwin's mother, Vincy George, said, "It shouldn’t happen. I know it’s really bad this has happened and nobody knew about it."
FCPS sent a letter to parents and guardians Thursday night saying Thornton has been fired and that they’re petitioning the state to revoke his license.
Superintendent Michelle Reid told News4 that she didn’t learn about Thornton’s criminal past until July 28.
"I understand the concern that this situation raises, and there’s nothing about the situation that is acceptable, clearly," Reid said. "I know that it raises trust issues with our students and our staff and our families, and I’m sorry about that for sure."
FCPS officials said they’re conducting a review through an independent third party to figure out what went wrong. They plan to release the findings to the school board and the public after that review is finished, they said.
Thornton’s entry on the Virginia sex offender registry lists him as "self employed."
News4 reached out to the Virginia Department of Corrections and Probation to ask if they do any verification of where a sex offender works. They have not yet responded.
Thornton is scheduled to appear in court next month for his second arrest.
