FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A former school counselor in Fairfax County — arrested for not informing the school of his history as a registered sex offender — is scheduled to appear in court for an adjudicatory hearing this week.
Darren Thornton, 50, of Richmond, was arrested by Virginia State Police on Aug. 25, 2022, and charged with four counts of failing to provide complete and accurate information to the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.
This week’s adjudicatory hearing — for a misdemeanor charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor, dating back to June 2022 — is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18, and will take place in Chesterfield County General District Court.
The former school counselor was fired in August 2022 after it was discovered he had been arrested by Chesterfield County Police on Nov. 19, 2020, for alleged solicitation of prostitution from a minor. This arrest appeared to have not been communicated due to a clerical error.
The Chesterfield County Police Department told ABC 7News that Chesterfield Police sent an email to Fairfax County Public Schools about Thornton’s arrest on Nov. 20, 2020, one day after the arrest took place. But in August 2022, police said that the email came back as “undeliverable.”
Thornton continued working as a school counselor even after he was convicted in March 2022 on the charge of solicitation of prostitution from a minor in 2020. In June 2022, he was arrested again, and the school district was informed of the arrest directly by Chesterfield County Police.
