
Chesterfield police e mail about arrested counselor by no means delivered to colleges | Crime Information
The Chesterfield Police Division tried to inform the Fairfax colleges division when a faculty counselor
The Chesterfield Police Division tried to inform the Fairfax colleges division when a faculty counselor was arrested on intercourse costs, however the emails had been by no means delivered, and the counselor flew beneath the radar and continued his employment with the state’s largest faculty division for 20 months after his first solicitation arrest.
Darren Thornton, 50, was arrested in a November 2020 undercover chat operation on costs together with soliciting prostitution from a minor. On the time, he was employed by Fairfax County Public Colleges as a faculty counselor.
The Chesterfield Police Division mentioned Tuesday that an worker known as Fairfax colleges inside a day of Thornton’s 2020 arrest to seek out out the easiest way to inform the superintendent about Thornton being arrested. However a Fairfax colleges worker supplied two incorrect e mail addresses for the superintendent, based on an announcement launched Tuesday afternoon by Chesterfield County Police Chief Col. Jeffrey Katz.
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Thornton was convicted March 11 and sentenced to 5 years, court docket paperwork present. The court docket suspended the sentence on the circumstances of fine conduct, following the regulation and paying court docket prices.
After his conviction, he was required to register as a sexual offender with the Virginia State Police. Thornton recognized himself as “self-employed” whereas he was nonetheless employed by Fairfax colleges.
In June, Thornton was arrested in one other on-line chatting operation in Chesterfield on costs of solicitation of prostitution and frequenting a bawdy place. Katz and his workforce acknowledged Thornton from the final undercover sting operation, Katz mentioned.
“I used to be stunned to see that he was nonetheless listed on Fairfax County College’s webpage as a faculty counselor and inquired of our workers how that may very well be potential,” Katz mentioned in an announcement Tuesday. “The following day, our particular victims unit supervisor made a second cellphone notification to Fairfax County Colleges, whereupon the matter seems to have been addressed administratively along with his firing in August.”
The Virginia Division of Corrections is opening an investigation into the incident. Spokesman Benjamin Jarvela mentioned the division “is ready to take any and all needed actions following the outcomes of the investigation.”
Fairfax Colleges Superintendent Michelle Reid, who started her job July 1, advised information shops that she didn’t study Thornton’s first solicitation arrest till July 28.
The Instances-Dispatch first inquired about Thornton’s employment in relation to his 2020 arrest on the afternoon of July 28. Shortly after the inquiry, his workers web page was deleted from the Fairfax colleges web site.
Katz mentioned he discovered Monday that the emails despatched in 2020, following the division’s cellphone name with the college division, didn’t get delivered to the superintendent. The wrong e mail addresses utilized by Chesterfield Police workers had been supplied by Fairfax colleges, based on Katz.
“Given the truth the previous superintendent had a number of e mail addresses throughout his tenure, it’s potential we had been supplied invalid or out-of-date addresses after we requested learn how to make this notification,” Katz mentioned within the assertion. “The technical nuances of the e-mail supply failure are nonetheless unknown. Nonetheless, we’re totally dedicated to working in partnership with Fairfax County Colleges to establish the problem and decide how we will keep away from a lapse in communication sooner or later.”
Fairfax colleges spokeswoman Julie Moult declined to reply to a number of inquiries from the Instances-Dispatch on Tuesday.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow is getting ready a communication that may exit to all faculty divisions Friday to remind them of their duties associated to state legal guidelines, insurance policies and steerage to guard college students from worker misconduct, based on state Division of Schooling spokesman Charles Pyle.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday advised WSET-TV that the data was “an astonishing revelation.”
“For there to be a faculty counselor, center faculty counselor, who was arrested for intercourse solicitation of a minor again in November 2020,” WSET reported, “And for that difficulty solely now to be resolved, if these details are right, that is wholly unacceptable. And that is, once more, a failure on behalf of directors to in truth defend college students.”
PHOTOS: 29 pictures from the Instances-Dispatch archives

In October 1980, Ronald Reagan, on the time the Republican nominee for president, hoisted Brady Spindel, 8, of Portsmouth, throughout a rally on the Norfolk Scope coliseum. Greater than 4,000 Reagan supporters attended.

In February 1969, Medical School of Virginia nursing college students Marsha Penney (left) and Martha Mooney checked tools. They’d joined the U.S. Military Nurse Corps in June 1968, and the Military was protecting their tuition, room and board at MCV in Richmond. After commencement, they’d start transitioning from civilian to army life with 5 weeks of primary coaching in Texas.

In September 1959, secure hand Garfield Tillman walked award-winning racehorse First Touchdown by means of Meadow Secure, the Caroline County operation of horse proprietor Christopher T. Chenery. First Touchdown, the U.S. champion 2-year-old colt in 1958, had been convalescing after an sickness.

In April 1948, James Phillips Schultz supervised a mumbletypeg recreation performed by two youths on the Richmond Dwelling for Boys. Schultz, 81, was the oldest alumnus of the house. To have fun the establishment’s 102nd birthday, alumni, households and youngsters gathered for a day program that included music , video games and dancing for the youths.

In March 1969, St. Mary’s Hospital nurses used the Teachmobile, a cart that moved amongst flooring and allowed staff to study with out counting on giant group gatherings. Jeanne W. Orr (left), director of the hospital’s persevering with schooling program, designed the cart with show boards and a tape-recorded lecture. Together with her is Mary Anne Cook dinner. The Teachmobile was constructed from a flower cart by the hospital’s carpenter.

In August 1954, members of the Richmond Civic Ballet rehearsed for an upcoming efficiency. The open-membership volunteer group, which introduced roughly a dozen performances yearly at native occasions, was organized virtually 4 years earlier by native former skilled dancers Betty Carper Grigg and John Hurdle.

In January 1964, site visitors on East Broad Avenue in Richmond moved slowly after town acquired greater than 4 inches of snow.

In April 1977, workmen eliminated the fountain from its basis in Monroe Park in Richmond. A substitute, solid from a mildew of the previous one, was to be made by an iron firm in Alabama and put in through the summer season.

In Could 1978, proprietor Jim Thayer stood outdoors Borkey’s retailer on Atlee Street in Hanover County. He deliberate to focus on the shop’s greater than 100-year historical past by ordering merchandise that had been bought there within the early days.

In April 1978, college students from Huguenot Excessive College in Richmond labored with director Dave Anderson on a public tv sequence known as “As We See It.” Financed by a federal grant, the sequence make clear faculty desegregation throughout America, with college students contributing scripts for scenes. The Huguenot section was titled “The Riot that By no means Was” and included a re-enactment of a tense second within the cafeteria through the earlier faculty yr, which in the end was resolved.

In January 1956, the Boys Membership of Richmond expanded by buying the home subsequent door to its North Robinson Avenue location. Choices for the brand new area included extra workplaces, a library, kitchen, assembly quarters and a basement rifle vary. The worth of the brand new constructing was $10,000.

In November 1978, African-American ladies gathered for a magnificence clinic on the Thalhimers at Eastgate Mall in Richmond. The clinic, sponsored by Trend Truthful, introduced in magnificence professionals, together with Pearl Hester (standing at proper), to exhibit make-up methods.

This Could 1965 picture exhibits a bit of East Broad Avenue in downtown Richmond after a night storm.

In September 1941, amid a nationwide gasoline scarcity, Harry J. Donati (left) and Joseph G. Robben drove their horse-drawn carriage down twenty fifth Avenue in Church Hill in Richmond.

In November 1980, a 1922 firetruck with extension hose was on show at Engine Co. 20 on Forest Hill Avenue in South Richmond. The car, which was in service till 1958, deteriorated for years till native residents and companies volunteered to revive it.

In October 1987, Lee Lockwood, 5, rode on the again of a pony village cart pushed by Laura Crews (proper) and his aunt, Grace Battisto, at Maymont in Richmond. They had been attending the park’s Victorian Day, a garden occasion highlighting turn-of-the-century life.

In September 1961, the Bellevue Theater marquee on MacArthur Avenue in North Aspect nonetheless learn “Closed for the Winter.” Neighborhood Theatre Inc. mentioned there have been no plans to reopen the theater, closed since 1960. It grew to become house to the New Dominion Barn Dance, a rustic music radio present.

This June 1964 picture exhibits Buchanan College in Richmond’s East Finish a day earlier than its scheduled demolition. The college opened in 1912. In 1964, the property was bought by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority as a part of the seventeenth Avenue Redevelopment Undertaking. The just about 600 college students had been transferred to the brand new Mosby College .

In December 1986, Irene Dameron stood behind the counter of her Westmoreland County store with regulars (from left) Bob Prather, Ben Allen and Bob Sanford. Dameron had run the store for 28 years — she had taken over the enterprise from her father, who ran it for 33 years earlier than that. Although the shop’s stock had been lowered, her loyal clients got here in virtually on daily basis to move time, motion Dameron inspired by having benches and chairs within the store.

In June 1951, sq. dance caller Richard Chase taught playground administrators some steps in preparation for a dance scheduled for the Byrd Park tennis courts in Richmond as a part of Park and Recreation Week. This system was organized by town and sponsored by Thalhimers.

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In December 1947, Charles C. Slayton (left), president of the Society of American Magicians, was the goal of a card trick when Dan Friedman pulled an outsized deck of playing cards from Slayton’s vest pocket throughout an occasion at The Jefferson Resort .

On Valentine’s Day 1989, a 50-foot-wide coronary heart hung from the columns of the state Capitol’s south portico in Richmond. The outsized valentine was created to mark the twentieth anniversary of the “Virginia is for Lovers” promoting marketing campaign.

This Could 1947 picture exhibits a avenue scene on Fundamental Avenue close to Ninth Avenue in downtown Richmond. On the time, automobiles shared the highway with electrical streetcars. Two years later, with the rise in buses and cars, the streetcar system was changed.

In July 1940, a Richmond Colts batter headed to first base whereas a teammate scored in a victory over the Norfolk Tars in a Piedmont League recreation at Tate Area, which was on Mayo Island in Richmond.

In September 1972, Rudy Peele (left) and Al Sanders shared fun on the Virginia Squires rookie tryout camp in Richmond. About 16 gamers had been anticipated on the camp, together with 4 who had been invited after doing nicely at an open tryout in Norfolk the earlier week. That tryout attracted 81 gamers who hoped to hitch the American Basketball Affiliation workforce.

In March 1964, Native American kids left the two-room state-funded faculty on the Mattaponi Reservation in King William County. An accompanying article reviewed inhabitants developments amongst Virginia’s Indian tribes; there have been 22 Mattaponi and Pamunkey kids attending the college on the time.

In August 1947, patrons of a Richmond laundromat performed bridge whereas their clothes was within the machines. The brand new coin-operated laundry services saved time, as a half-day chore with out machines at house was lowered to a 30-minute cycle. The laundromat additionally grew to become a social gathering place.

In June 1943, an indication posted within the elevators of the Atlantic Life Insurance coverage Co. in downtown Richmond challenged custom by asking males to maintain their hats on to hurry elevator service and permit for extra room.